


Voltron: Ancient Defense

by GalacticDefender4679



Category: Voltron - Fandom
Genre: Aliens, Female Pidge | Katie Holt, Giant Robots, Multi, Sci-Fi, Starfleet, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-23
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2020-03-10 03:27:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 63
Words: 172,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18930352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalacticDefender4679/pseuds/GalacticDefender4679
Summary: An evil once thought to have been purged from the universe has returned, and only the great Voltron: Defender of the Universe, can stop it. There's just one problem; Voltron hasn't even been heard from since its final battle against this ancient evil... Until now. Only problem is the people who found it again are teenagers.Naturally, rated Teen for War and the ensuing madness.





	1. New Student

**Author's Note:**

> This story will be divided into various separate arcs;
> 
> 1-43: Zarkon Arc
> 
> 44-52: Lotor Arc
> 
> 53-62: Renegade Arc
> 
> 63-?: Oriande Arc
> 
> ?-?: Kraal Gruntan Arc
> 
> ?-?: Sincline Arc
> 
> ?-?: Journey Home Arc
> 
> ?-?: Yurak Arc
> 
> ?-?: Raggah Arc
> 
> ?-?: Merla Arc
> 
> ?-?: Guns of Gamara Arc
> 
> There will also be a few quick-shots of intergalactic law enforcement and politics here and there, but for the most part, it'll be straight-up giant-robot-on-giant-robot violence.

Earth. Once a primitive world whose lifeforms thought they were the only sentient species in the universe. They were wrong. The people of planet Altea proved it to them in the year 2034. But they were peaceful, willingly sharing their advanced technology with humanity. Now Earth is an intergalactic trade-hub, servicing nearly all alien races now known to inhabit the universe. But there are still those among the stars who would do planets like Earth harm. And to that end, this new Galactic Coalition founded the Galaxy Garrison; a specialized academy on North Island in San Diego Bay, made to teach the next generation of intergalactic explorers and soldiers in case of any sort of threat.

This is where we find one of our first heroes; Keith Kogane, a sophomore cadet at the Garrison with blue-gray eyes and a shaggy black mullet. Specifically, we find him in the gym early on the morning of Saturday, July 14th, 2057 taking out some serious aggression on a mixed-martial-arts android. So much, in fact, that his anger-fueled grunting had apparently led one of the Garrison administrators: Captain Takashi Shirogane; a young man with gray eyes and black hair with one white lock in the front and a high-tech prosthetic right hand, down to see what was going on.

Shiro, as he preferred to be called, always respected Keith’s natural talent for keeping a cool head in a fight. Even though almost all alien races that went through Earth’s star system were peaceful and those that weren’t were dealt with swiftly. “Trouble sleeping?”

Keith looked over at the captain just after he landed a kick strong enough to knock the droid to the ground. He was sweating enough to water the lawn and panting like a dog, but he still smirked at the captain. “I’ve always been a morning person, Shiro. Drove my dad crazy like that.”

“Sure, but even for you, getting up just to punch the droid at 5:38 in the morning is a little excessive, don’t you think?” One of the many advantages to a prosthetic hand with Altean tech infused into it was that he could have as much holo-tech loaded into it as he wanted, including a watch.

“Only 5? Funny. My alarm clock must be slow.” Keith’s smirking was cut short by a strong right hook from the android, knocking Keith into the ropes which bounced him to the ground.

“Oh!” Shiro cringed. “Jeez. You okay, Keith?”

The cadet just stood up with an angry look on his face. “Fine. Gimme a minute, then we can talk.” He spat the small pool of blood that had collected in his mouth in the android’s optics, temporarily blinding it long enough for Keith to quickly take it down in another flurry of attacks, ending his combo with a strong downward smashing punch.

Shiro gave a proud chuckle as he climbed into the ring. “Not bad. Very resourceful. But not exactly according to the rules of engagement.”

“Well, ‘there _are_ no rules on the battlefield’.”

Shiro was happily surprised. “I say that. Are you quoting me to me?”

“What can I say? You’re a real smart guy.” The two shared a laugh and playfully punched at each other.

“Yeah, well… I doubt that new cadet’s gonna share that sentiment. Family either. Much as I wish they would.”

“Join the club. We’ve got jackets,” That comment drew Shiro’s attention in confusion.

“That’s what this is about, isn’t it? You didn’t just want to practice, you wanted to work through something.”

“Something like that.” Keith wasn’t exactly the most open cadet in the Garrison, but around Shiro, he always had a tendency to lower his guard a tiny bit, as he was doing now while removing his gloves and sports-tape.

“You… wanna talk about it?” Shiro pointed to the nearby bench with a kind look on his face, which Keith returned as he walked over.

“Yeah. That sounds great.” Once the two sat down, however, Shiro recoiled at a strange smell.

“Whew! O-Okay, you are _way_ too smelly to have only been down here since 5:30!”

“Huh. Guess my clock’s running right after all.” Keith smiled but just looked down the long gym. “But yeah. There actually is something I wanted to work through.”

“Oh yeah? Well, penny for your thoughts?”

“It’s… about the new cadet. And my dad.” Keith’s father Trevor had once been a rising star in the Garrison’s ranks, coming ever-so-close to beating Shiro’s own speed record. But after an accident with an Altean prototype spacecraft killed him, Keith had harbored a deep distrust of the race.

“Keith, I understand what you’re going through, but you can’t let one accident influence-”

“Except it wasn’t an accident.” Keith was also a very firm fellow, especially with regards to what he believed. “I ran my own investigation, and I found something that everyone else apparently missed; the power line to the ejector seat was cut before he went up in the ship. It was definitely sabotage.”

“And you think that was the Alteans’ doing? Keith, that’s crazy.”

“And the existence of aliens isn’t? We believed it _was_ for centuries but now, look at Alliance Day.” Alliance Day is the celebration of the day humans and Alteans first contacted each other, and united to first establish the Galactic Coalition on February 19th.

“Listen, Keith, I like you; really I do, and as much fun as it sounds like, I’m not going to sit here and wax eloquent over what is and isn’t crazy with you all morning. I’ve got classes to prep for and a new student to welcome, and you… well, I should think that’s self-explanatory.”

Keith sighed in defeat. He knew there was no arguing with Shiro. “Yeah-yeah. Hit the showers and get ready for classes, way ahead of ya.” With that, he simply pulled off his training shirt and threw it down the nearby laundry chute before turning toward the shower room.

“Wrong room.” This sort of thing was routine, especially with men as tired and dazed as Keith at this hour.

“I knew that.” So was that bit.

Later that morning, things at the Garrison were basically the same as they had ever been, with Shiro teaching a class and Keith and his squad had just gotten out of the flight simulator after getting their tails handed to them.

His co-pilot was a Cuban guy around his age with dark blue eyes and brown hair named Lance McClain, and he really seemed like the Han Solo of the crew; cocky and brave beyond the point of reasonable sense, but also very strategic-minded when it counts.

The main engineer was Tsuyoshi Garrett, more commonly referred to as Hunk because he was a very large Samoan-American man with brown hair and eyes, but while most think his size is due to being fat (and given his immense appetite, who can blame them?), it’s actually been shown that he’s incredibly buff as he’s been working with machines of various types his whole life; space travel, food preparation, stuff like that.

The on-deck communications officer was a short young Italian woman with brown eyes and brighter hair named Katherine Holt, Katie for short, though she preferred to be called Pidge as it was a nickname her brother Matt always used for her. She’s a tech genius, especially since her father Commander Samuel Holt was one of the lead scientists in figuring out how to combine human and Altean technology, so she’s learned a lot and is always excitable in the face of learning more about something technological.

The weapon specialist was Sven Holgersson, a young Norwegian man with blue eyes and black hair who was very by-the-books in how he did things, hating when they didn’t work out in his favor.

And he had no problem expressing that to his crew when this sort of thing happened. “See Keith, I told you we should’ve had some power in the shield generator just in case, but no. You said ‘Full power to engines! Get us out of here’! Are you kidding me?”

“Even if I was, you obviously didn’t care because you took that power to try and blast them down. Seriously Sven, Hunk had literally _just_ said their shields were too powerful. _You’re_ the one that got us killed out there, not me!”

“Hold your gazurgas, Cadets. What’s all this about?” The cadets quickly froze and saw a man with purple eyes and orange hair in an unusual blue uniform and a rather large mustache. They were all confused until Keith noticed his unusually pointy ears. And immediately redirected his glare to him.

“You’re Altean, aren’t you?”

“That I am, my boy,” he said, giving an almost comical bow. “Coran Hieronymus Wimbleton Smythe Raible, at your service.”

“Good, then get lost.” That was all Keith had to say before he turned away and pulled out his tablet. “I’m gonna go over the recording of our latest blunders, see what we can improve on.” With that, he walked away toward the sim-room door.

“Yeesh. Who peed in his apple juice?” whispered Lance.

“Why, what have you heard?” That question from Pidge confused, scared, _and_ disgusted everyone else, including Keith who stopped and turned back to her with a look of “ _What?!_ ” on his face. “Kidding!”

“Aw, that’s messed up, amigo, even for you,” Lance groaned. But then something struck him as he turned back to Coran. “Wait, you _can’t_ be the Altean transfer student. You’re too old to be accepted here except as a teacher.”

“Or a personal escort and guard,” Coran proudly stroked his mustache as he said that. “Which I am for your real transfer student.” With that, he stepped to the side and revealed a young Altean woman almost Keith’s age with dark skin, blonde hair and blue eyes with purple pupils wearing a pink bodysuit under her cadet uniform. “May I present Princess Allura Fala, daughter of King Alfor of Altea.”

“Good afternoon, gentlemen.” It was obvious from her tone and mannerisms that Allura was very serious, but Keith was almost entranced by her ethereal beauty.

“ _Whoa. Shiro didn’t say the newbie was gonna be this… ‘Wow’._ ” He didn’t have any other way to describe it, and in his mind, he didn’t need to.

Unfortunately, it was this moment that Lance had to embrace the “shameless flirt” part of his Han Solo-like personality. “Well, he-llo Princess.” God, the others hated it when he was like this. Thankfully, Pidge was spared this as she “wasn’t Lance’s type”, but whatever “type” that was, they were sure Allura didn’t fit the bill either. “So you’re with us, are ya? Well, don’t be surprised if I end up teachin' ya a few things.”

“Pfft. Yeah whatever, Tailor,” Pidge rolled her eyes as she adjusted her glasses. Lance just shot her an angry glare, but before he could continue his cringy flirting…

“Ignore him, Princess, for he knows not what he says,” Sven quickly blocked Lance’s with one arm as he moved ahead.

“That’s a lot of words just to say he’s an idiot, Sven,” Keith had managed to get himself under control as best he could as he walked over. “Though it’s still not wrong.” Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to avoid teasing from Lance.

“Huh. And I thought red was _my_ color, but y’know… you make it look pretty good too Keith.” Unfortunately, he was right; Keith was blushing bright red. Though this was probably also with anger, especially after that little gem.

“One more word out of you Lance, and I swear to God I will put you out the airlock!” he growled.

“Whoa, hostile! Hey-hey-hey, calm down Keith. Remember those deep-breathing exercises Shiro taught us?” Hunk always was the voice of reason in tense matters like this, easily reminding most of his crew to keep their emotions under control.

A few deep breaths later and Keith was back under control, flashing his friend a little smile. “Thanks, man.” Quickly clearing his throat and turning back to Allura, he gave a low bow. “Sorry about that, your highness. Let’s start over; I’m Keith, the big guy’s Hunk, the short chick’s Pidge, and this is Lance and Sven.”

“A pleasure to meet you all. But please, I prefer to keep things informal amongst friends,” This was the sort of thing most of the guys only ever heard about in cheesy movies and manga, but somehow it was actually happening. “Just call me Allura.”

“Well uh, if you insist,” Keith smirked.

“Uh sorry to interrupt, but Lance actually did raise a good point; you were assigned to _our_ squad?” And there was the bad thing about Hunk being the voice of reason. “Shouldn’t Command have put you with one of the higher-ranking cadet squads?”

“That’s… actually a good point,” Pidge relented, turning to Coran. “Why _was_ she assigned to our squad?”

“Well trust me, his Majesty the King didn’t exactly agree either, but that was just the first go of the numbers, based strictly on the over-all grades,” explained Coran. “But when he went over personality profiles, he found you were a perfect match for the Princess. As for me? Well, I guess I still need convincing. Let’s see if you’re as good as Alfor thinks you are.”

“Prepare to be sorely disappointed.” That resulted in Sven just getting an apathetic punch to the jaw from Lance, distressing both Alteans. Which Keith thankfully noticed.

“Uh, before we do that, _and probably prove Sven right or wrong,_ how about after a tour of the complex? I doubt the admiral or the king will mind if Allura gets a sort-of lay-of-the-land.”

“Hmm. Well, I suppose we have time. Let’s hop to it.” With that, he walked off with an unusual spring in his step.

“Is he always like this?” Keith finally asked.

“Oho, you have no quiznacking idea.” The whole group chuckled to themselves, completely unaware that on the other side of the universe, a dark force was about to rise to engulf the universe.


	2. Strange Beginnings

“And here’s the gym,” Lance smirked as his crew and the princess walked through the large gym to see cadets running on treadmills, working with weights, spinning in gyroscopes, even one guy in the ring with the android from earlier that morning. “This is where we do most of the physical training needed to go up into space without puking our guts out. _Hunk._ ”

“Oh for- that was one time Lance! Seriously, when are you gonna let me live that down?”

“Mmm, never?” Hunk just face-palmed.

“Yeah okay, I guess I walked right into that one.”

“Hey Griffin! Take it easy with that thing!” Keith yelled to the guy fighting the android. “I still wanna go a few more rounds with it.”

“Oh, so you’re to blame for these new dents. Why am I not surprised?” Keith laughed at that, but still cringed when the android kicked Griffin in the stomach.

“What exactly is the point of that?” Keith knew he should’ve resented the fact that she was Altean, but she was just too cute for him to worry about that. Not to mention the fact that Shiro was nearby allowing _him_ to explain.

“Well we know there are those in the universe who mean to do it harm, so we at the Garrison also train our astro-explorers in combat. After all, not every race in the universe is as friendly as you Alteans.” This however made Coran give an amused chuckle as he rolled his mustache between thumb and forefinger.

Unfortunately, he was not spared the mercy Keith was showing to Allura. “And exactly what about that is so funny?”

“Oho. Oh nothing. It’s simply that… well, you’ve never seen Allura when she’s backed into a corner, have you?”

“Well we _did_ just meet her today. Just sayin’.” Another little thing about Sven; in matters like this, he could be pretty aloof.

“Well either way, what say we show this collection of weblum fodder what you can do, eh princess?”

“Well… I suppose.” Allura walked over to the ring and cleared her throat. “Excuse me, Griffin was it? Would you mind?”

Surprised as Griffin was, he smirked and made the robot stand down by raising his hand to it. “Be my guest. Let’s see what you Alteans are made of.” He walked out of the ring and then detached some sort of high-tech disk from his belt, handing it to her. “You’ll need this. It keeps track of your health in the ring.”

“Health?”

“You ever play any martial-arts fighting games?” This resulted in a small nod. “This is basically a real-life version of that.” With that, he smacked the disk onto her belt and walked off. “Good luck. We only just got that thing last week so it’s still learnin’, but it’s tough.”

Allura smirked as she cracked her knuckles. “I’m tougher.” Then she rolled her head, cracking her neck.

“Aw man, that sounded good. Now I have to do my neck.” This was a bad decision as once Hunk turned his head to one side, there was a loud crack and… “AH-HOW, MY NECK!”

“And the Hunk-Owned count just hit 30. You owe me lunch, Pidge.” Lance smirked.

“Yeah-yeah, I know.” This talk however was quickly silenced as Allura removed her cadet’s jacket, leaving her in her jumpsuit in the ring with the android, both of whom had assumed a fighting pose.

“Combatants ready. And… fight!” Once Shiro said that last word, Allura jumped at the android and delivered a furious combo, putting the enemy in the corner within seconds. Given the impressed whistle Shiro gave, it was needless to say that Keith and his crew were stunned in awe.

“Would it work if I owed you a popcorn?” Pidge always one to take advantage of an opportunity like this.

“Absolutely.”

“Sorry to break it to you Lance but I don’t think she’d have time to get it and back before it ends.” Amazingly Sven was right; Allura was bashing the android so much, it looked like the fight was already over. Keith wasn’t sure, but it seemed like getting into the fray of combat made Allura more… confident. And his whole crew knew he liked confident women who knew how to fight. Especially when those women knew how to dislocate an enemy’s arm while having her legs wrapped around it, which she had just done to the android. Though this did allow it a chance to get in a cheap shot at her face.

Naturally Keith was worried as he moved over to the side of the ring. “Allura quick, tag me in! I got this.”

“No.” Her stern reply was emphasized as her narrowed eyes focused on the android snapping its arm back into place. “He’s mine.” Then Keith noticed something; Allura had a full power-meter. And since he knew the fighters wearing that brace could see those sorts of numbers too, Allura knew that too. And she quickly moved to capitalize on it when suddenly… “AH!” She doubled over and fell onto her side, pulling her right leg to her chest in pain as she held it. Everyone was worried, and Keith quickly climbed into the ring to check her. She was shaking and started screaming in pain just as Keith made it to her side.

“Shiro! Get a medical team now!”

“On it.” A quick press of a button and the medivac was en route allowing the others to get into the ring with Keith and Allura.

“ _I knew this would happen. You pushed yourself too hard._ ” Keith’s thoughts were suddenly halted when he as well experienced a strange, piercing pain in his chest. Then he saw the others experiencing it as well; Lance grabbed his right arm, Pidge grabbed his left arm and Hunk grabbed his left leg, all of them grunting and screaming in pain. Sven and Shiro obviously weren’t sure what to make of it, but Coran… well, he looked more amazed than scared. Almost like he was hoping for this to happen. Either way, that was the last thing the cadets saw before they all blacked out.

_Keith had always been able to trust his mind, but at this point he wasn’t sure **what** to trust. Mostly because he was apparently dreaming of a massive robotic black lion with red wings. As well as four other robotic lions of different colors, which quickly began flying in formation, swiftly forming a massive android with a sword, slashing through a fleet of some sort of alien warships in space. But then he saw someone unexpected in the cockpit;… himself and the others._

“GAH!” he yelled as he woke up with a start, panting in fear. The others quickly followed suit, which made him even more confused, especially once he realized they were in the med-bay. Then he was suddenly gripped in a dulled pain in his chest.

“Whoa-whoa-whoa. Keith, take it easy man. Are you okay?” He quickly realized Shiro was there as he saw his teacher and Coran looking at the group in concern.

“Ugh, yeah. How long were we out?”

“‘Bout ten minutes. We ran CAT-scans though, no brain-damage.”

“Ugh. Uh, do CAT-scans also check for weird cat-related dreams?” asked Lance. “Because if so, they might be a little busted because that was in _sane_.”

“What are you talking about?” Shiro may have been confused but Keith knew exactly what he was talking about.

“Wait, you had that dream too?”

“I think we all did,” Hunk tapped his chin with a finger. “It’s weird. I thought people sharing dreams was impossible.”

“I feel it was more a premonition than a dream,” said Coran. “We ran physical exams on all of you, and aside from admittedly unusual brainwave patterns, the only irregularities we found were unusual scars on your bodies.”

“Is that why you have us bandaged up?” Pidge was right; all of the parts that had initially caused them great pain were now lightly wrapped in bandages in specific places.

“Yeah. We don’t know what those scars are capable of yet, since they just… appeared.” It was weird how Shiro phrased that, but he wasn’t sure how to interpret it. “So until we figure it out, we’ll be running tests. In the meantime, please don’t mess with your wrappings.” With that, he and Coran both left the med-bay leaving the cadets with a lot to think about.

“Voltron…” It was quiet and on the edge of his senses, but Keith could still tell it was Allura who had said it.

“What?”

“Voltron. That’s what that was.”

“Wait, you know what that thing we dreamed about was?” Lance was rightly confused; so was everyone else.

“Of course. It’s an old Altean legend.” And thus she began to recount it. “1200 years ago, the Galra Emperor Zarkon laid siege to the universe, with the intent of conquering it. But the ancient alchemists of Altea set to creating a weapon powerful enough to repel the Galra and their Drule mercenaries. Thus through the unity of science and magic, the robotic knight Voltron was made and reconquered the universe from Zarkon. In his final battle against Zarkon, Voltron may have won but the dark emperor took the great knight down with him thanks to a spell from his witch Haggar. Voltron is said to have been split into five individual lions. The lions we clearly just saw.”

“So wait, you honestly think Voltron is telling us to get up and go after him? Why?” Pidge’s question was one the whole room was about to ask as well.

“Why else? He senses Zarkon’s return from the grave, and without its defender, the universe will surely fall. We must find Voltron.” Allura was right about one thing; lightyears away on a distant planet known as Korrinoth, a purple-skinned alien witch was apparently attempting to raise a larger purple alien in red battle armor back to the land of the living.

“Rise, great Emperor Zarkon. The Galra need you. Rise and destroy your enemies forever!” Then with one swift movement, black lightning shot from her hands into Zarkon’s corpse… which then suddenly opened its eyes.

“Thank you Haggar.” he said in a dark tone. “What has happened to Voltron?”

“No more, sire. Voltron has fallen into the pages of ancient history and legend now. No one remembers it ever existed. We have won.”

Zarkon gave a sadistic smirk as he stood up. “Good. And what of my son Lotor?”

“I have had him in stasis since your final battle with Voltron. As well as your harem. But your empire still waits, ready for when you would return.”

Zarkon looked out into the empty night-skies of the planet and narrowed his eyes. “Send word to all my fleet commanders. The war is begun once again.”


	3. Exit Stage-Up

The rest of the crew’s day was essentially devoted to classes and allowing tests to be run, which gave them the chance to see that their scars all looked like boomerang shapes with a small diamond cut into the inside-middle; identified by Allura as the symbol of Voltron. Once the day ended, however, and the group was back in their crew’s barracks, Keith’s plan began.

It was about 30 minutes after lights-out when he quickly and quietly jumped out of his top-bunk above Sven, taking care not to wake him before he got dressed and went to the other bunks to wake up the other guys.

“You ready?” His question was swiftly answered by Lance slipping out of his bed, still fully clothed.

“Let’s rock.” Hunk, however, was still in his pajamas, though this was quickly rectified as he tried to talk his squad down.

“This is a mistake. There’s no way we can ‘Mission: Impossible’ our way out of the Garrison.”

“Are you kidding? I did it all the time back in the day and I was never caught.” Lance had had a girlfriend in the city outside the Garrison a few months prior, so he now knew the guards’ search patterns by heart. “Now cmon, let’s get the girls already.”

Thankfully, they didn’t have to as the door was quietly slid open by people who turned out to be Pidge and Allura, still clothed. “Cmon boys, are we going or what?” Pidge whispered.

“Absolutely. No one saw you, right?”

“No. But I doubt that will continue. We have to hurry.” Allura’s concerned whispering was well-founded as someone was heard coming down the hall. Quickly, the crew slid out of the room and slunk away down the hall. They managed to avoid the security all the way up until one hallway where they found themselves about to be boxed in by one active squad and the next shift.

“I thought you knew what you were doing, Lance.” Keith’s angry whispers did little to improve the situation, as it sounded like the guards had heard them.

“I do. This is all part of my master plan.” With that, Lance pulled out a Yankee screwdriver and quickly undid the screws on the nearby vent-cover. “Everyone in, now.” They didn’t have much choice in the matter, so they quickly obliged and climbed into the vent with Pidge and Allura taking up the rear, allowing them the chance to put the vent cover back on just in time.

“Changeover. Anything?”

“Thought there was somethin’ here, but Nah. All yours, Matt.”

 _That_ spooked Pidge. “Oh crap, I forgot Matt was on security detail tonight. We’re doomed.”

“What? Why?” asked Hunk.

“The guy’s got eyes like a hawk, and if he finds out that _I’m_ in on this escape attempt, he’ll tell our parents and I’ll be grounded the whole rest of the year.”

“Relax Pidge, we’re not gonna get caught,” Lance smirked, but then noticed their position. “Take a left up here.” Keith quickly obliged and the others followed him. “Seriously though, we’re just gonna slip into the hangar, commandeer a ship, find Voltron… somehow…” He cleared his throat nervously. “Then save the universe and be back before anyone misses us.”

“Yes, this begs the question; _how_ are we gonna find Voltron? Have we- Have we figured out how we’re doing that yet?” asked Hunk.

“We can figure that out once we get on the ship. Which way now, Lance?” Lance considered Keith’s question by minor pondering and a strong sniff, before smirking.

“Down at the next vent-cover. Quick warning; it’s about a 3-foot drop.”

“Not a problem. Pidge, Hunk, you got that wire ready?”

“Right here.” Pidge slid a length of strong wire up the vent to Keith who smiled.

“Perfect.” He quickly latched the cable to the top of the vent and then undid the vent cover, sliding it forward in the vent before he stuck his head out and looked around, seeing a catwalk below them and a hangar full of excursion shuttles next to it. “All clear. Let’s rock.” He pushed the cable down out of the vent and quickly slid down it and landing on the catwalk. “Cmon, let’s go-go-go.” Quickly the others slid down the cable, Allura pulling it out of the vent before they all jumped over the catwalk railing and hid behind a few shipping containers. Then Lance noticed something nearby; a weapon cabinet.

“Well, that’s convenient.” With that, he slipped over to it and grabbed a small pistol and latched a suppressor onto it, earning a strange look from the crew. “What? I checked the label, it’s a stun pistol. Just in case.”

Keith just shook his head. “Look whatever, we just need to figure out where we’re going and we’ll be fine. Pidge?” The comm-o swiftly pulled out a small device which projected a small star-map. “Alright, maybe if we just compare the stars we saw in our pass-out dream to this, we’ll find Voltron.”

“I doubt that’ll work, but I guess since we don’t have anything else to go off of- does anyone else suddenly feel itchy?” Pidge had suddenly started scratching her left arm above her scar.

“Uh yeah, what’s up with that?” Lance rolled up his sleeve and was freaked by what he saw; his scar was glowing a faint red. “Uh…”

“Wait, that’s it. Our scars.” Hunk quickly checked and _his_ scar was glowing as well, though his was yellow. “Maybe they can help us track the lions.”

“So what, I just scan through the universe and see what our scars react to?” asked Pidge.

“It’s the best lead we’ve got so far. Let’s go for it. Whichever planet makes us glow the most, that’s the one we go to.” Keith shrugged, his own scar glowing a faint purple through his shirt.

“Well alright, here goes,” Pidge then began scrolling along her star-chart as Lance held his arm up next to it. Then suddenly…

“Whoa-whoa-whoa, stop. There. That planet.” Pidge didn’t have to be told twice as she zoomed in on the planet.

“Arus?” Allura seemed surprised by this.

“You know the planet?” asked Keith.

“I should hope so. It’s in the Altea System. My father appointed me Duchess of Arus.”

“Then that makes it easy. We’ll just say you’re taking us to see your planet.” Lance smirked, but Allura seemed unsure.

“I’m afraid it won’t be that simple. You see, when I was younger I… was in a bit of a closet-romance as you call it, with Arus’ champion Klaizap, but we didn’t exactly leave it on good terms. If he finds out I’m back on his planet, things may become…”

“Awkward?” asked Hunk.

“Oof. That would be a gross understatement.”

“Well then, we won’t let him know we’re coming. We just get to Arus, find Voltron, get out and we’re fine,” said Lance. “Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy.”

“You might wanna put a hold on those 'lemon-squeezies', Lance. Need I remind you that the Altea system is fifteen lightyears away from Earth?” Pidge raised an eyebrow at this reminder as she put away the star-map.

“Not a problem. I helped upgrade them last week, so I know that all these shuttles have a Teleduv drive installed in the engine.” Hunk smiled. “All we need to do is enter the coordinates and we’re there.”

“Hunk, if we were an official Garrison crew, I would be promoting you to lead engineer/spy.” Keith smiled.

“Well, I would wholeheartedly accept. Now the only question that remains is… which ship do we take?”

“Whichever one’s fastest,” Lance smirked as he walked out to the ships.

“Ah, we’ll want XK493 then.” Took them less than a minute to find the right ship and board.

“Alright guys, I’d say we’ve got about 2 minutes before someone hears us and sounds the alarm so we’ve gotta make this quick. Hunk, get the engines running. Allura, hit the scanners. Pidge, broadcast interference. Lance, set coordinates into the Teleduv. I’m drivin’.”

“Got it,” said the first three, but Lance seemed a bit apprehensive.

“What’s wrong, man?”

“I was just thinking… what happens if we run into a Galra fleet somewhere between Earth and Arus?”

“Then you’d need a gunner.” Everyone was scared witless and Lance almost fired his stun-pistol until he saw who was in the door.

“Sven?! What’re you doing here?”

“You didn’t honestly think I wouldn’t have picked up on your plan to pull this _all day_ , did you?” Keith face-palmed at his own ignorance. He _knew_ he should’ve kept his planning in his mind today.

“Ugh. Alright, how much do you know about this?”

“Not a lot. Heard you were going after something called Vo-con or something like that.”

“ _Voltron,_ ” Allura emphasized.

“Yeah, whatever. Look, the point is if you want a turret aimed down your six, then I’m your guy.”

Hunk shrugged. “He’s got a point. Sven’s one of the best gunners in the Garrison.”

Keith wasn’t exactly on-board with it, but he didn’t see any other way to keep Sven quiet. “Fine. Welcome aboard. Get on the turret and get ready to shoot at what I want you to.”

“You got it,” Sven smirked as he planted himself at the ship’s turret.

“Alright people, we good to go?” asked Keith.

“Engines hot. Good to go on your command, captain.” Hunk.

“Comms are scrambled. No one will be able to make contact.” Pidge.

“Scanners are ready to detect any hostile craft.” Allura.

“Coordinates locked. Helm’s yours, Keith.” Lance.

“Alright then.” Keith cracked his knuckles as he grabbed the controls. “Let’s fly.” Unfortunately, just as soon as he was about to open the hangar, an alarm went off.

“ _Intruder Alert. Intruder Alert._ ” All eyes shifted to Sven as a large noise of boot-falls sounded outside in the hangar.

“What? I’m not as stealthy as you. So I had to knock out a guard or two to get here. Sue me.”

“I think that’s the least of our problems right now,” said Pidge. “If we don’t get out of here _now_ , we’ll be on latrine duty for a month.”

“Wha-? You can’t be serious,” said Allura, concerned.

“It’s the military Princess,” Keith said with a straight face. “Everything’s serious.”

“Well then what’s the plan?” asked Lance.

“Okay so we can’t use the main exit, that’d give us away in less than a minute. Maybe if we drop down and use the catapult…”

"Good call Hunk. Dropping now.” Keith was always onboard with an unorthodox plan, so this was cake. Flipping the switch for the catapult-elevator, the ship started lowering. Unfortunately, it drew the guards, who then quickly started following them down the whole.

“Okay, this is a problem.” Understatement of the night, Sven. “Do we have another part of this plan?”

“I think I have an idea, but- no, it’s insane.” Hunk hesitated.

“So is what we’re doing right now Hunk. What’s your idea?” Keith could be very demanding in situations like this, and reasonably too.

“Okay so if we launch the catapult at near-overload levels and then activate the Teleduv just as we leave the track, we might be able to escape.”

“Pidge, what’re the odds of that maneuver working?” asked Lance.

“1 in 10,000. If this maneuver doesn’t work-”

“It’ll work. I’ll make it work.” The others were terrified. Keith always was a cocky pilot, but this was just asinine. “Hunk, power the Teleduv and charge the catapult.”

“Roger that.” Hunk said hesitantly, but he still complied. The teleduv whirred to life as the catapult powered up. The launch-lock attached to the shuttle and gave Lance a readout of the power levels.

“Catapult at 90%...”

“More!” ordered Keith. At last, the catapult was at full capacity, but Keith didn’t even flinch for the launch control until the track was literally sparking with power. “Lance!”

“Alright. Brace yourselves, everyone.” That command was all the warning the crew received before he pressed the launch button and the ship was blasted along the track at near supersonic speeds.

“Pidge, activate the Teleduv on my mark!” Pidge moved her hand over the control at the command and was ready to press the button. The last door on the track had just opened all the way before it started to close, clearly the controllers in the hangar trying to stop them from launching. Clearly, they didn’t know Sophomore Cadet Keith Akira Kogane was at the helm, because… “MARK!!!” Pidge was about to argue with her captain, but she knew it would be beating her head on a brick wall, so she quickly activated the device, making the engines whir to life practically instantly before it suddenly shot out of the hangar in a massive sonic boom and a bright streak in the night sky, disappearing into space.

“Plot every course along their last known trajectory. Now!” The deck officer in the hangar was naturally furious at this display, but Shiro… well, no one actually knew _what_ Shiro thought of that maneuver because he was nowhere to be found. Same could be said for Coran and Commander Holt.

Where were they? Well… Keith and the crew would find out the answer to that soon.


	4. Lion Hunting

Teleduv warp was always hard on people’s bodies when they couldn’t properly prepare for it, but that stunt Keith had just pulled was pure and simple suicide if he couldn’t time the slip-exit just right. “How we doing, Allura?”

“We’re nearly there. Prepare to deactivate Teleduv on my mark.” Pidge quickly moved her hand to the controls, ready to hit them as soon as- “MARK!” Okay, warp-off _now_. Piece of cake. One quick button press and the ship quickly left the warp-space, a mere jaunt away from the planet’s gravitational grasp.

“Ugh. God, I hate that,” Lance groaned as he pulled himself up from his harness. “Still, at least we-”

Suddenly Hunk quickly bent over and started throwing up. “Oh, I’m so sorry.”

“I’m just surprised it took this long.” Pidge shrugged as she adjusted her glasses.

“Well, either way, here we are. Welcome to Planet Arus.” Allura’s smile was suddenly broken when she saw a large warship orbiting one region of the planet. “Oh no.”

“Don’t tell me. Galra?” asked Keith.

“I’m afraid so. We’re too late.”

“Not necessarily. If we can slip onto the planet without drawing any attention from them, we should be fine,” said Pidge. “But we’d have to go on silent running. And fly fast.”

“Well in that case… McClain, you have the helm. Guide us in nice and fast and quiet.” Keith turned back to the others. “Everyone else, deactivate the other nonessential systems and get us silent running.”

“Got it.” Once the order was said, systems were deactivated left-and-right with Hunk quickly engaging silent running. Then he noticed his scar was glowing more-so than before. He looked to the planet’s surface and saw a large structure on a cliff above the ocean. He checked the visual readouts and saw it was some sort of large futuristic castle. He wasn’t sure, but judging from how his scar was reacting, _that_ must’ve been where Voltron was now.

“Alright everyone, hang on tight. I’ve never tried reentry on silent running, so this might be fun.” Once Lance placed both hands on the controls, the crew indeed seemed worried but to his credit, Lance did manage to get the ship into the atmosphere… before Sven saw something on his computer.

“They’ve got target-lock on us!”

“What? How!?” Lance was right to be concerned; the ship was on silent. How did the Galra get a lock?

“They must’ve picked up the atmospheric disturbance,” Keith growled. “Power the ship back up and get us planet-side! Now!” Quickly the ship was restored to full power and Lance punched throttle through the atmosphere as fast as he could, but unfortunately, the Galra ship launched a small fleet of fighters to blast the shuttle out of the sky. “Sven, cover us! Lance, go to evasive maneuvers! Pidge, Hunk, Allura, find us some way to find Voltron! Now!”

“Aim us for that castle! Voltron’s gotta be there!” yelled Hunk.

“Workin’ on it!” Lance growled as the controls sparked with his explosive actions. Then a large explosion echoed next to the ship, throwing it around.

“Work faster! I don’t know how long I can keep these guys off us!” yelled Sven.

Then Lance’s face lit up as he saw they were only a few miles away from the planet’s ocean near the castle. “Maybe you won’t need to.”

“What do you mean?” asked Keith.

“I mean, if we can just get over the water and then load ourselves into the torpedoes, we might be able to make it out alive.”

“I guess that’s as good a plan as any. Let’s do it,” smirked Pidge.

“Alright then Lance. Full throttle, get us to the ocean. And fly low; I don’t wanna break anything.”

“Aye-aye, captain.” With that, the engines burst to full throttle and shot the ship across the plains right to the ocean, only a few feet above the ocean. Quickly, Lance set the auto-pilot and moved back in the cabin to suit up in high-impact resistant space-suits with the others. “Hunk, torpedoes!” Quickly, the engineer brought out several large torpedoes, the warheads of which he quickly removed allowing the group to climb into them before the ship’s system quickly reloaded them into the aft-pointing launchers.

“We better make this quick. We’ve got a heat-seeking missile closing in fast.” Sven said over the radio.

“Alright Hunk, fire aft torpedo tubes!” Keith yelled and Hunk quickly hit the launch button on his wrist-comp, sending the torpedoes shooting out of the tubes and into the ocean, sending them toward the coast and letting the ship cruise another few feet before the heat-seeker hit the ship and blew it to Kingdom Come.

The torpedoes shot several miles before Hunk’s sensors started blaring, prompting him to press the torpedo-split functions, making them all split in half down the middle, and sending the crew coasting up onto the beach.

Keith was very shaken by the evac as he removed his helmet. “Ugh. Is everyone alright?”

“WHOOOOOO!!!” Well, Lance was definitely okay. “Ho-ho, man! Oho my god, I cannot believe that actually worked!”

“Wait, you didn’t know that would work?!” Pidge asked mortified.

“How could I? I just came up with that on the fly. But still, was that not totally epic?!”

“Honestly? Yeah, that was just straight-up awesome.” Sven smiled and bumped Lance on the shoulder. “Nice plan, dude.”

“Look, we can pat each other on the backs later. Right now, we’ve gotta find Voltron,” said Keith, his scar glowing a brighter purple. “You heard Hunk. Everyone up to the castle.” He pointed up to the cliff where the castle rested and the others saw that their scars were indeed reacting like his and Hunk’s.

But then Allura’s face scrunched in confusion. “Wait a tick. That’s _my_ castle.”

“Wait, what?” Hunk’s question echoed that of all the others in several ways.

“Yes, my father said my family had it built up there once we became advanced enough for space travel. To establish our rule in this system. Then when he named me Duchess of the planet, he gave it to me as a sort-of home-away-from-home. But it doesn’t make sense; why would Voltron be in my castle?”

“Only one way to find out. Let’s move.” Keith ordered and everyone else began climbing the high hill up to the castle.


	5. Paladins

Once they made it up to the paved path to the front door, they were all very tired, even moreso when they pulled themselves into the castle’s dimly lit main hall and essentially collapsed on the floor once inside.

“Hoo. Oh man. That… was not fun. Let’s agree never to take that hike again.” Lance panted.

“Shouldn’t be a problem. Not as long as-”

“You find Voltron?” Keith was suddenly interrupted by a familiar voice. He and the others quickly looked up and saw three very familiar faces, one being an older Italian man with graying hair and amber eyes.

“Wha- Shiro?!” asked Keith.

“Dad?!” Pidge.

“Coran? What’re you doing here?” Allura was just as scared and confused as Keith, but then they both noticed another person behind them.

“They came with me. I suspected you might come here.” Allura’s face instantly went white as a sheet, as she knew who this man was even before the lights automatically went up. Once they did, however, they revealed an aged Altean man with white hair and blue eyes wearing a white suit of armor with yellow trim.

“Father?” This comment prompted all the rest of the crew to suddenly realize “ _Oh crap, he’s the king._ ” And indeed, this aged man was King Alfor, kind and just ruler of the Altea System as well as Allura’s father. “What do you mean? How did you know we’d come here?”

Alfor just smirked as he produced a small device that, to Hunk, looked like a tracking device. “You didn’t honestly think I’d allow my princess to attend a military academy on another planet without having her microchipped, did you?”

“Wait, you-? You implanted a tracking device in me?” Allura asked.

“Well not myself personally, I’m not in charge of your inoculations.” Alfor’s eyes drifted to the right, to his daughter’s personal guard. “Your escort, however…”

“Wha-? Coran, you were in on this?”

“Well, we both knew you were going to give me the slip eventually, so we… planned in advance.” Her guard twisted his mustache between two fingers as he spoke with a smirk.

“And Shiro and Sam knew we would be here how?” asked Sven.

“We assigned you guys together for a reason,” Sam explained.

“Yeah, you said our personalities worked well together, right?” asked Lance.

“Yes. Both amongst yourselves, and with Voltron.” Allura was stunned to hear that from her father.

“Father, you believe in Voltron as well?”

“I should. I spearheaded his creation.” The crew was stunned.

“Wait, you helped build Voltron? But that was twelve hundred years ago,” said Pidge.

Alfor chuckled. “I can never help but feel old when people say that. Either way, you have it wrong. It was only _one_ hundred years ago. And ever since the final battle, Voltron has been sealed inside this castle. But I knew Zarkon would return eventually, so for years since the final battle, I’ve been searching for worthy Paladins to resurrect Voltron and restore order to the universe.” He smiled at his daughter. “But then I suppose Voltron never has been a normal being.”

“How do you mean?” asked Sven.

“The Lions that now constitute him have minds and personalities of their own, split from the consciousness of when Voltron was fully sentient,” explained Alfor. “You do not choose the Lion. The Lion chooses you. And you know it has when you find the Defense Mark on your bodies.”

“Defense Mark… What, you mean these scars?” asked Keith, pulling down on his shirt collar to show the top of his scar.

“Indeed. Those scars mark you as Paladins of Voltron and new Defenders of the Universe.”

“But why are they in my castle, Father?” Allura felt this answer was long overdue.

“Because princess, it’s not just a castle,” Coran flipped a switch on the wall nearby which suddenly caused the ceiling above them to open and bring the whole group into a large vaulted area with several chairs around the room. “It’s a spaceship. And Voltron’s hub. Has been for the last century.”

“Okay, it’s official; this is the coolest thing ever!” Lance said giddily.

“You think this is cool? Well, lemme tell ya something else; these doors aren’t color-coded for nothing.” Sam smirked. And indeed; there were five color-coded doors in the room, each one with a color corresponding to one of the Lions from the cadets’ dream. “They lead to the Lion’s hangars.”

“Each Lion of Voltron has chosen each of you for based on their own personalities,” Alfor explained, walking to each Marked crewmember as he spoke, starting with Keith. “The Black Lion is the decisive head of the great warrior, in complete control and requires a Paladin in the form of a born leader; calm and collected in the face of danger, whose fellows will follow without question.” Then he moved to Lance. “The Red Lion serves as Voltron’s right hand in senses both literal _and_ figurative. It is fastest of the five without question, but it can also be very hotheaded and hard to tame. Thus, it requires a Paladin who relies more on instinct than skill alone just as it does.” Then Pidge. “The Green Lion is quite technical compared to the others. It is very analytical and daring, but quite demanding that its Paladin shares the same traits.” His daughter. “The Blue Lion is the friendliest and most accepting of its fellows. It is very adaptable as to who pilots it and tends to pick Paladins with nigh-infinite reserves of untapped potential. And I believe this is why it has chosen you, Allura.”

Allura smiled. “Well, Mother always did say I was destined for greatness. I suppose she was right.”

“Indeed.” Then he moved to Hunk. “The Yellow Lion is the figurative heart of Voltron, caring and very selfless putting the needs of others above its own, often shielding others with its heavily armored body. Its Paladin’s heart must be mighty and ready to lift Voltron and hold it together in times of doubt.”

“Well, I’d say it picked the right guy for the job,” Keith smirked at Hunk; he fit that bill perfectly and everyone knew it.

“Well then, I’m pleased to hear that. As you’ve no doubt seen on your way in, Zarkon has returned and the Galra are once again on the offensive.” Alfor walked the Paladins to their specific colored doors. “And thus, Voltron must return as well. But first…” Then he pressed a button on the console in the middle of the bridge and several robotic arms slid out of the wall, all holding parts of special suits of white armor.

“Uh, what’s the deal with these?” Hunk asked, concerned.

“Well, you’re Paladins of Voltron now,” Shiro smirked. “Might as well look the part.” Then the robotic arms all moved to the Paladins and started locking the armor onto their bodies. Once the full body-suits were locked on, the crew saw it was very futuristic with the colors of their lions in the crests on their chestplates, the back-hand plates on their gauntlets and the backs of their helmets.

“Wow. Nice.” Lance smirked as he flexed under the armor.

Keith looked Allura over with a smile on his face and a small blush he tried his best to hide. “You look good in blue.”

“Oh. Well, thank you.” Then she noticed something on her hip and pulled it off to reveal it was a small metal handle with colored bars that went up to her wrist. “What’s this, Father?”

“Your Bayard; the signature weapon of a Paladin of Voltron. Each one takes a specific shape for its wielder.” Alfor’s explanation went hand in hand with the others pulling their own Bayards off their hips as well.

Once they were off, they suddenly began shifting into large weapons; Keith’s became a black broadsword, Lance’s became a red double-headed spear, Pidge’s resembled a green katar dagger, Allura’s became a long blue energy whip, and Hunk’s became a large yellow Warhammer.

“Nice.” Lance swung his spear around on his hand to get a feel for it. “But I usually prefer things with a little more-” He couldn’t finish that thought as his Bayard quickly shifted into a large red plasma rifle. “-range.” Quickly shouldering the rifle, he looked down its holographic sights before smirking as he pointed them down-range from his team.

“No need to worry about anything on that front, Lance.” Shiro smiled. “The Bayards have both melee and ranged weapon-modes.” Keith liked the sound of that and his sword suddenly shifted into a pair of black plasma pistols linked side-by-side. Allura liked where this was going so she quickly activated her Bayard’s ranged-mode, shifting her whip into a large blue bow, which generated energy arrows every time she touched the string to the arm. Then Pidge’s turned into a small gun that had a slot for a muzzle. She checked ammunition and smiled as she saw her weapon was a plasma-shuriken launcher.

Then Hunk’s hammer quickly shifted into a large yellow plasma minigun with what looked like a fold-out turret tripod locked to the bottom, which made him give a happy laugh. “Hohohoho man…! I am coming up with **so** many awesome _Rambo_ fantasies for this thing right now!”

Suddenly the castle started shaking and an alarm started blaring. “Well, it looks like you’re gonna get to enact them, big guy.” Keith quickly passed the large man to hit the console and bring up security camera-feed from the lower area, showing that the Galra had broken through the main door led by a soldier with an arm that appeared to be made of a darker version of the tech that constituted Shiro’s hand. “Please tell me this thing has internal security systems, your highness.”

“It does, but they’ll have been blown out before the doors were breached. At the very least, we should be able to activate the particle barrier and prevent reinforcements from entering.” Quickly, Alfor pressed another button on the console and activated the particle barrier generator, which surrounded the whole castle in a bright blue spherical force-field, preventing any more Galra soldiers from entering the castle aside from the ones that were already inside its hold. “We have to defend the castle. We cannot allow the Galra to acquire Voltron.”

“Understood.” Quickly, Keith turned back to his crew. “Allura, Hunk, Sven, and Pidge; head down to the foyer with Shiro and the king. Commander Holt, you and Coran get internal defenses back up to support them. Lance, you’re with me. We’ll clear the skies.”

“And how exactly are we gonna do that?” Lance’s question was answered with his commander’s cocky smirking.

“We’re taking our Lions for a test-drive.” Upon hearing that, Lance gained a similar smirk as they both quickly jumped to their doors, which opened into elevators. Once they boarded, the two were shot down.

“Alright guys, let’s do this,” Shiro smirked, cycling open the panel in his palm that revealed a plasma blaster. Quickly the group raced to the staircase that led up from the foyer (with Sven grabbing a blaster off the nearby rack to arm himself) just as a large battalion of soldiers and cyborg sentries started moving up the stairs.

“Always wanted to say this,” Hunk muttered as before getting his gun spinning. “SAY HELLO. TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!!” Plasma bullets went raining down the stairs in a massive torrent, shredding the enemy as Hunk let out a guttural roar of fury and a few inane laughs.

Lance and Keith also saw this as they were streaming it to their helmets and were stunned by Hunk’s reference and steadily rising body-count. “Keith?”

“Yeah?”

“That guy. Is my goddamn hero.”

“Yeah.” That was basically all that needed to be said until the elevators reached the bottom level.


	6. Return of Voltron

Once the doors opened, Keith was in awe; there stood the exact same Lion-robot from his dream at least a mile and a half tall with massive red wings with what looked like mega-thrusters built into them. He smirked as he approached the large machine and stopped right before its mouth. “Hey, big guy. Time to wake up.” Amazingly, that actually woke the large machine up as its eyes suddenly turned bright yellow and it started giving a light growl before it bowed its head and opened its mouth to the pilot, showing a simple chair attached to what looked like an elevator. Quickly he ran up the Lion’s jaw and strapped himself into the seat which then rose him up higher into his head to the cockpit, which was actually fairly similar to a standard Earthling spaceship. “Good kitty. Let’s rock-n’-roll.” With that, he hit the throttle and the monstrous machine started whirring as a large hatch opened up above it. Once it was open, the Lion shot out of it, revealing that its bay was at the base of the central tower. “Whoo! This is awesome!”

“I know, right?” Keith was surprised to hear Lance’s voice over the coms until he looked off to one side and saw the Red Lion flying alongside his own. “So what kinda weapons you got?”

“Uh…” This prompted Keith to check his systems, bringing up a list of weapon systems… written in Altean. Thankfully, his helmet’s HUD came with an in-built translator. “Plasma Roar, Jaw-Blade, Tail-Stinger, and I’m pretty sure I can use the backdraft off my engines offensively. You?”

“Same, plus what looks like a plasma flamethrower." Now that sounded like it might come in handy. 

“Alright then. How about we test ‘em out?”

“10-4, Chief. Let’s rock!” With that, the two Lions shot out toward the fleet and started tearing them up.

Inside, Hunk and the others had managed to fight their way back down to the main foyer but they still had a lot of soldiers to go through before they succeeded and Sam still hadn’t gotten the internal defense systems back online.

Finally… “Okay, is it me or is this getting us absolutely nowhere?” Pidge asked simply as she ducked back behind the cover they had made from an overturned table.

“I would have to agree,” Alfor smirked as he reached for the sword on his hip. “What say we switch to melee?”

“I say… Hunk Smash.” That was all that needed to be said as he and the others switched their Bayards back to melee-mode and Alfor drew his sword as Sven broke a leg off the table to use as a club.

Shiro simply activated the electric-touch function in his hand (yeah, he might’ve gone a little overboard with features when he had that hand installed) and once the first Sentry-bot walked up weapon-ready, Shiro shot his hand up and grabbed its face, shorting out its system. Then he quickly jumped out and threw the robot back at the others, slipping an electro-shock knuckle-duster onto his other hand before he and the other charged full-tilt into the fight, slashing and bashing their way through the whole squadron.

“It seems the reports were right,” said the leader as he walked forward, telescoping an energy blade out of his forearm. “You truly are a formidable warrior, King Alfor.”

“Nice to see my reputation precedes me,” the king smirked as he pulled his sword from one of the Sentries. “Now perhaps you would grant me the pleasure of seeing if it is mutual by telling me _your_ name?”

“I am Yurak, top-ranking commander of the Galra Empire. And now… slayer of Alfor!” He almost made good on that word as he charged the blade at the good king before Shiro quickly jumped in and kicked Sendak’s blade off-course, sending him to the other side of the room before he turned back around, ready to battle.

“You’ll have to go through me if you want that title.” The commander smirked as he saw the small stun-turrets on the underside of the balcony moving to lock on him. “And I doubt you’ll get the chance.” The turret quickly blasted at Yurak, but somehow the warrior spun around and bounced the blast back to the turret, knocking it back offline. “Wha-?! How did-?”

“That trick is weak. And so is this castle.” Then he turned on his communicator. “Sendak, lock the hyper-ion cannon onto the castle and fire!”

“ _Yes, commander._ ” Alfor’s face went nearly as white as his hair; a hyper-ion cannon?! The particle barrier wouldn’t last five minutes against a weapon like that, and after that, the castle was forfeit. But he also knew they had something that could stop it.

“Paladins, get to your Lions! We need Voltron now!” he ordered.

“What about you?!” asked Allura.

“They’ll be fine, princess!” Coran yelled as he and Sam ran down the stairs with blasters, shooting the soldiers down. “We’ll make sure of it!”

“Go get ‘em, Katie! Show the universe what us Holts are made of!” Pidge smirked at her dad’s confidence and quickly spin-kicked another sentry’s head off before she started running back up the stairs.

“Cmon guys, let’s go!” Hunk and Allura decided to follow her as they ran up the stairs after her.

“I thought you said your name was Pidge?” Allura asked confused.

“Long story, I’ll explain later. Assuming we survive long enough _for_ me to explain.”

“Hey, none of that! Let’s try and stay positive while we blast these guys outta the sky!” said Hunk as they all put away their Bayards and went to their elevators.

A few minutes after that, all the other lions flew out of the castle to join the battle with Keith and Lance, both of whom were surprised by their appearance. “What’re you guys doing here? I told you to guard the bridge!” barked Keith.

“The others are handling that! Right now, we’ve got a bigger problem.” And Hunk quickly explained about the main war-ship’s weapon.

“Oh, so _that’s_ what that weird radiation is. Alright then, let’s do this!” Lance smirked as the Lions all flew toward the ship in formation.

Then Pidge realized something. “Wait a second. How are we supposed to do this anyway?”

“Yeah y’know, that probably would’ve been a good thing to check.” Hunk shrugged.

“Well I dunno, maybe we all just focus on the image of Voltron we saw in our dream and it’ll just happen.” Keith didn’t really have the best plans under pressure, but that was the best they could think of so they went with it. Then as they focused, they all heard a deep growling from their Lions. Keith smirked as he knew what they were telling him to do now. “FORM VOLTRON!!!” With that, the Black Lion’s forelegs folded into the body and it shifted for the head to be facing straight ahead like a human’s. Then Keith suddenly slid out of his chair and started dropping down a tube toward the chest.

The Red and Green Lions folded their legs as well and locked to the Black Lion’s shoulders, suddenly sending Lance and Pidge up to the chest as well. Once they were gone, the Lions’ jaws and heads unlocked and slid back on the arms, revealing large hands with circular plasma cannons in the palms. The same thing happened to the Blue and Yellow Lions, but they locked to the Black Lion’s hind legs forming shins and feet, sending Hunk and Allura up to the chest as well. Once all the Lions had locked together, the Black Lion opened its mouth to reveal a silver metal plate which parted to reveal a silver face-plate with blue, red and green around the eyes, which suddenly flashed to solid yellow and the Black Lion’s gold ears folded out into tall horns. Voltron had returned.

Finally, all five Paladins had arrived in the chest in what looked like color-coded circles with Keith’s seeming to have much lower gravity than that of the others, who all still had controls but when they tried to use them, nothing happened. They were understandably confused as they looked around. “What the heck?” asked Hunk.

“Well this is great,” Lance groaned. “How are we supposed to fight if our systems don’t work?” Then he accidentally hit a button and a large blast of plasma shot out of the Red Lion’s eyes, destroying another battalion of fighters. “Okay, that was cool. Random, but cool.”

“I’ve got an idea,” said Pidge. “I think I saw this in a TV show once. Keith, your Lion forms Voltron’s head and torso, so if we want _him_ to move, _you_ need to move.” That was as good a plan as any, so Keith decided to raise his left hand, prompting Voltron to do the same.

“Whoa. Sweet!” Lance smiled. Then he saw a large squadron of fighters headed toward them. “Incoming!”

“Alright, let’s see what this big guy can do!” ordered Keith as he quickly pointed both palms out in front of him. By extension, Voltron did the same. And suddenly, with one thought from Keith, two massive blasts shot out of Voltron’s hands and destroyed almost all the fighters.

Lance was ecstatic, laughing ridiculously. “That was awesome!” Then he smirked. “Hey, you guys thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Are you thinking we should blare awesome music out at our enemies while we’re blowing them up?” Pidge’s question was answered by a massive happy smile from Lance, which she returned with her own smirk. “Let’s do it.” Quickly, she brought up a holographic display near her and turned on a playlist.

**(Look up “Stronger Together” from Voltron’s Death Battle against the Megazord)**

Once the music started, Voltron quickly charged toward the fleet with the massive booster engines in the wings it acquired from the Black Lion, punching, blasting and crushing fighters to scrap metal left and right. Then it charged the main ship with a strong right hook but bounced off what was revealed as a large purple spherical shield around the ship.

“Oh, what the hell?!” asked Keith. “Please tell me we have some sort of weapon that can get us through that.”

“Hang on,” Lance quickly pulled up a holo-screen and looked through the weapons. “Plasma Roar-Kicks, Hand Blasters, Stingray Missiles, Ion-Dart beams, Eye-Lasers, Projectile Punches and Kicks… Gah! Nothing will work!” Then Keith heard a loud growling in his head as if Voltron itself was telling him what to do.

And he liked what he was hearing. “I’ve got an idea! Form Blazing Sword!” Then he drove the tops of his fists together, opened them and moved them slowly apart. Voltron mirrored his actions exactly and once its fists connected, a bright light generated and elongated with the hands. Then a large blue gauche-style handle appeared the right-hand end of the light, which Voltron quickly grabbed and swung to reveal a large silver sword-blade with a large fork on the tip. Then Keith’s Bayard suddenly appeared in his right hand in the same shape as the blade. Keith looked to his fellows and smirked as he took a strong grip on the blade and then moved to charge with it, giving a loud mutual battle-cry with the other Paladins.

Voltron did the same, except its cry sounded more like a savage roar as the sword suddenly caught fire. One stab from that and the shield shattered, allowing Voltron to swing the sword to its left side and then give a strong cleave straight through the ship, including the cannon. The great warrior stayed in the air above the ship for a minute or two before the ship suddenly went up in a massive explosion. All the Paladins cheered at their victory as Keith just smirked and gave the Blazing Sword one last swing in victory.

**(Okay, cut the music)**

Once the Paladins were back on the surface with Voltron split back up, they cheered and whooped as they walked to the castle door.

“That was so awesome!” yelled Hunk. “I can’t believe we actually pulled that off.”

“Ohoho, believe it, amigo. We just took down an entire alien battleship just by swinging a sword! We’re Paladins now!” Lance was understandably happy about this; a feeling that was unfortunately dowsed when he and the others saw the state of the foyer; dead enemy soldiers and sentry robots lay everywhere, there was significant structural damage around the chamber and everyone was wounded. But the strangest thing was that Alfor wasn’t even visibly wounded but he was coughing up blood in-between moments of labored breathing.

“Father!” Allura threw off her helmet and ran to his side in concern.

Keith was concerned as well; his grudge was history, he wasn’t just going to let the king of Altea die. “Hunk, bio-foam now!”

“It won’t do anything,” Sam was running a bio-scan nearby and was looking rather grimly at the results. “Unless you can get it to his heart. And even then, I doubt it’ll do much.”

“What? Dad, what do you mean?” Pidge asked as she slid in next to her father to look at the scan. And she saw a strange piece of technology on Alfor’s heart. “What the heck is that?”

Alfor gave a weak chuckle. “How do you think I’ve lived for these past hundred years? That single device has kept me alive ever since my mid-30s when I learned I had an otherwise incurable disease. But… it failed in the battle, and now…”

He didn’t need to say anything more for everyone to understand; he was dying. And there was little any could do about it. Allura started weeping as she held her father. “Father. Please. I’ve already lost Mother. I can’t bear to lose you as well. I’m not strong enough.”

“I would beg to differ, my daughter. Look at what you’ve accomplished; you’ve brought my greatest creation back to life and now, you will carry on my legacy of protecting the universe.”

“I don’t want to protect the universe! I just want to be with you. And Mother.” At this point, the others were getting worried about Allura; they all knew it was hard for someone to lose a loved one right before their eyes, but it was getting too hard to watch.

Then Alfor smiled as he pet his daughter’s head, which confused the others. “Well, my daughter…” He wiped the tears from her daughter’s eyes and smiled. “If this truly is goodbye… know that myself and your mother… we will both always love you.”

Allura finally looked up and smiled weakly at her father. “I love you too, Father.” The two hugged, with Alfor planting a last, weak kiss on his daughter’s forehead before his hands fell, limp and dead.

Keith was the first to move to the princess and try to comfort her, taking her into his arms which she gently accepted and returned. “I’m sorry,” he said simply. “Trust me, I know exactly how you feel.”

“Truly?”

“Yeah.” So far, only Shiro and Sam knew about what happened to Keith’s father. Time to change that. “My pop was a pilot in the Garrison too, almost beat Shiro’s speed record. But… well, you probably heard about that prototype test on Altea a few years ago.”

“Wait, that was your dad?” asked Lance.

“Yeah. The ejector-seat was disabled, so I always figured an Altean sabotaged the thing, and it’s made me hate them for the last few years.” Then his face softened. “But now… I think I can finally let that go. I know it wasn’t one of your people, Allura. You’re too kind and caring.”

Allura smiled as well as she pulled herself deeper into the hug she and Keith were sharing, sympathetic tears rolling down her face. “Thank you, Keith. Truly. Thank you.”

“Aw! Group hug!” Hunk said on the verge of tears himself, and everyone quickly slipped in to hug the two as well.

But they were so wrapped up in it that they didn’t notice something; Coran had pulled something out from the base of Alfor’s skull and snuck it into one of his pockets before he joined in as well. At least that’s what Coran _thought_. But Sven? Well… you don’t get to be a gunner for a spaceship without great eyesight.


	7. The Funeral

A solemn note rang throughout Coalition Space as news of King Alfor’s death spread like wildfire across the universe, bringing several prominent figures of the Coalition to Altea for his royal funeral including the Paladins, their families, and several others.

The royal crypt was opened and Alfor’s coffin prepared, but before he could be set to rest, he was left out for the people to see the once great king as he was when he had fallen.

“You’re sure you’re ready for this, Sam?” Commander Holt had been asked to give a speech over the fallen king, as he was one of the first to make contact with him those twenty-three years ago.

“I’ll be fine Shiro. This isn’t the first funerary speech I’ve given.” Sam said simply as he walked out to the plinth to address the people. “Citizens of the Galactic Coalition, my name is Commander Samuel Holt. Tonight we stand before a devastating truth. The great King Alfor has fallen at the hands of a previously unknown alien race known as the Galra.” Most of the people were stunned and worried, but the Paladins just scowled. “To me, he was more than a king. When we humans first made contact with the people of this system, we were simple allies. But as time went on, Alfor began to welcome me as a friend. On one occasion, he even referred to me as… his brother.” A tear slid from his eye as he said this but he regained sternness. “We cannot allow the cruelty of Zarkon, Emperor of the Galra, go unpunished. We must move forward with strength! And thus, to honor King Alfor’s name and memory, and on behalf of the entire Galactic Coalition, I declare war on the Galra Empire.” His face took on a scowl for a few seconds, but he quickly cleared it from his face and retained his seriousness. “By Altean law, when the ruler dies, their first-born takes the throne to rule seven days after burial. But when at war, the coronation is postponed until the enemy is either defeated or made peace with. And thankfully, Alfor’s sacrifice was not in vain. For he has given the universe its greatest defender; the mighty Voltron. With his help, Alfor’s death _will_ be avenged.”

With that, he stepped off and Shiro took his place at the plinth. “Thank you, Sam, that was beautiful.” He turned to the people. “Any with a close personal relationship with the deceased may now approach the coffin and say their final goodbyes before the body is interred.” The king had plenty of old friends who took this final duty upon themselves, including his own brother and his children, as the Paladins and their allies met to discuss, which took a rather long few minutes.

Sven was still a bit suspicious of what Coran had taken from Alfor’s head once he died, but his attention was suddenly drawn to an Altean girl roughly Allura’s age with blonde hair and purple eyes wearing a simple yet elegant black funeral dress approaching. “Whoa. Who is that?”

“My cousin Romelle, princess of our sister planet Pollux,” Allura introduced. “Cousin, it’s been too long.”

“Indeed Allura,” Romelle said as she hugged her cousin. “But believe me; this is the last way I would’ve wanted to meet again.”

“A sentiment which I can assure you is mutual, Romelle,” said Allura. “But Commander Holt is correct; Voltron exists again and we Paladins will claim vengeance for my father.”

“Of course Allura,” Romelle bowed. “I wish you the best of fortune in your journey.” Then as she rose back to an upright position, her eyes suddenly connected to Sven’s and she gave a small blush. “Oh. And who is this?”

“Sven Holgersson, at your service your highness,” Sven bowed out of respect. “And I promise that your cousin is right and the Galra will be shown justice for what they’ve done,” Lance smirked at his old friend when he saw something moving near the street. A better look revealed that it was another Galra, this one without any form of implants, but clearly trying to escape.

“Well, it looks like we have a chance to start. Cmon!” Quickly he charged after this Galra who quickly ran across the street and down an alley. The other Paladins quickly got the idea and followed as quickly as they could, bayards ready to go to ranged mode if necessary. Thankfully, Shiro had given the Paladins a crash-course on how their armor worked before the funeral so Pidge knew that there was an inbuilt rocket-pack and wing-kit in the back, which she quickly used to great effect by gliding up onto the wall of the nearby building and running along it and firing shuriken to try and hit the Galra soldier. But he was a nimble fella as he dodged almost all her blasts before bumping directly into Hunk who had used his rocket-pack as well and was now standing in the Galra’s way and holding his hammer over his shoulder.

“Going somewhere?” The large man smirked as the rest of his team surrounded the Galra agent and trained their weapons.

“Talk, pal. Who are you and what’re you doing on Altea?” asked Lance.

“I am Lieutenant Sendak of the Galra Empire, serving under Emperor Zarkon’s right-hand soldier Commander Yurak, to attempt to destroy Voltron by destroying his Paladins,” he growled.

“You’re gonna have to try a little harder than this if that’s your objective, pal,” smirked Lance. “You’re under arrest.”

“The Way of the Galra tells me otherwise; victory or death. But in this case, I will welcome both.” Then he pressed a button on something on his belt, which started beeping.

“Grenade!” yelled Keith. Quickly, he and the others activated the plasma shield generators on their gauntlets and raised them in a phalanx to block the explosion, but this also rendered them immobile as Sendak ran off, leaving the grenade to detonate and blast the Paladins out of the alley into the street, and causing a massive panic from the people.

“Ugh. Alright, who’s not dead? Sound off.” Keith’s order was answered by various groans and loud coughs from his fellow Paladins.

“Okay, I _wanna_ say that’s the first time something’s literally exploded in my face, but I have a few failed science class projects that beg to differ.” Pidge groaned.

“Princess!” Coran yelled as he and Shiro ran over to the team. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine Coran. What about that Galra agent?”

“Something tells me this isn’t our last time meeting with him. Or his commander.” Lance growled shouldering his rifle.

“Well, for the time being, he’s long gone,” Hunk sighed. “I’m not picking up anything remotely resembling Galra biorhythms on my BLIP sensors within a five-mile radius.”

“Either way, we’ll probably meet him soon,” said Shiro. “Especially since we’re officially at war with the Galra, we’d better get going.”

“Going? What do you mean? Where are we going?” asked Keith.

“To the front,” said Shiro. “And we’ll need space for the Lions.”

“So we’re taking the Castle?” asked Allura.

“Naturally, Princess. And we’ll have more than a bit of company,” Coran’s vagueness confused everyone present, except for Sven. Who had walked over with Romelle.

“Does this have anything to do with that thing you pulled out of the king’s head?” His bluntness was a surprise to everyone, especially Allura.

“Wha-? Coran, what is he talking about?”

“Ah, you must be referring to this.” Coran pulled out a small chip which Pidge recognized almost instantly.

“Wait a second, isn’t that an AI mapping chip?” Coran smiled at her with a look on his face that said “ _Bingo_.”

“Wait, you mean you made an AI from my father’s mind?” Allura was stunned, naturally.

“The king knew there was a chance that he may never see you _or_ Queen Melenor again. So he had the royal medics and scientists implant these chips into both of their heads with connections to the brains so their minds may be recorded,” Coran explained. “Alfor ordered me to remove the chips when they each died. So that you might be with them again.”

Allura honestly didn’t know how to react to this, but she just smiled at her attendant. Not only was she surrounded by excellent friends and teachers, but even after they died, her parents would still be with her. Oh, and also she was on the front-lines of a war against her people’s greatest enemy driving a weapon powerful enough to obliterate an enemy warship. Basically, life was good.

But she wouldn’t be thinking that soon as on Korrinoth, Zarkon had just deactivated a stasis pod about the size of a teenager and out of it strode an incredibly handsome being that appeared to be around the age of Allura and the others with gleaming white long hair and almost Altean ears, but the rest of his appearance (skin, sclera, body-form, etc.) made him heavily resemble a Galra. He smiled at his father and walked as if wanting to hug him out of the pod.

“Ah, Father. Wonderful to see you again,” he said, but his father’s reluctance to return the hug made the young prince scowl and drop his arms. “Still as personable as ever, I see.”

“Skip the sarcasm, Lotor,” the emperor growled. “It never suited you _or_ your mother well.”

Lotor scowled; he apparently didn’t like anyone speaking negatively of his mother. “Well? What do you want?” Zarkon raised an eyebrow. “You released me from stasis for a reason. What is it?”

Zarkon gave a small, almost imperceptible smile; stubborn as his son may have been, he at least knew that his governess did a good job with the boy. “Voltron has returned, but the Altean King who built him has fallen. And left his daughter to claim the throne.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

“Alfor’s daughter is also the Blue Paladin of Voltron and based on all accounts, as the humans say, right up your alley.” Lotor raised an eyebrow. “Not only that, but the Altea System is quite possibly the most important member of this new Galactic Coalition, with Alfor having started it in the first place 23 years ago.”

“Make your point, Father,” Lotor growled.

“The mission I give you is a simple one; take the Altean princess as your wife and we will officially rule the universe.”

“Simple indeed. Except for the small matter of Voltron.” Lotor scoffed. “No offense Father, but I’d rather not end up as you did a hundred years ago when you last faced the great Lion Knight.”

“Haggar will deal with that. She’s been experimenting with her monsters for the last century. And if you do fail, I will deal with Voltron myself.” Then he suddenly punched his son in the stomach to send him into a wall and then to his knees before the villainous emperor. “Right before I deal with you. So if you value your life, you will not fail in your mission.”

Lotor groaned in pain but looked up at his father with a stern look on his face. “By your wish, Father.”

“Good.”


	8. Planning

There was something really trippy about seeing King Alfor standing on the bridge of the Castle of Lions a few hours after his funeral, much less his wife Queen Melenor who, according to Allura, had been dead since the princess herself was 8 years old, and yet there they were in hardlight hologram forms hugging their daughter and niece, with the others looking on happily.

“Man, this is just so nice,” Lance smiled. “Every movie I’ve seen about AI always made it really… well, bad.”

“Well, it’s a delicate science,” Hunk replied. “But yeah, this is nice.”

“Mother, come. Let me introduce you to my new squadron,” Allura smiled as she led Melenor over to the others, all of whom saluted in respect.

“Ah, the new Paladins of Voltron. It is an honor to meet you.” The queen bowed to the Paladins and Keith returned it out of courtesy.

“The honor is ours, your majesty,” he smiled as they both stood back upright. “Honestly, I was never expecting to be wrapped up in something this huge.”

“Amen to that, amigo,” Lance patted his commander on the shoulder. “I mean cmon; we’re basically a five-man army about to go to war with evil aliens. This is gonna be awesome!”

“First things first Paladins,” Alfor chuckled. “Coran, let’s get this ship off the ground, shall we?”

“Yes, your majesty.” Coran then went to the main console and pressed a few buttons.

Sven smiled, ready for whatever the galaxy could throw at him and his friends when he noticed that Romelle seemed a bit apprehensive about something. “Something wrong?”

“Wha? O-Oh, n-no. It’s nothing, just…” She seemed to be doing her best to dodge the question, but Alfor saw through her easily.

“You’re concerned about your family, aren’t you?” Romelle was surprised by this but smiled at her uncle’s hologram.

“Yes. My parents would never forgive me if I were to leave for frontier space without telling them, and even then they may not let me go with you,” she said. “Besides, Bandor and Avok need me. Where would they be without the middle child?”

Lance chuckled; he knew from her tone that that last part was sarcasm. “Yeah, I know how you feel. My brothers and sisters have pranked me so many times I can’t even keep track anymore.”

“Not to worry Romelle,” Melenor smiled. “Our first stop will be to return you to Pollux, and then we go to war.”

“Speaking of which, how are we gonna do this?” asked Shiro.

“I’m not sure,” Alfor replied honestly. “It used to be so easy that you could fire a blaster at any point in the universe, and hit a Galra ship. But after these hundred years, I’m not sure that's the case anymore.”

“What about that ship we blew up? Maybe there’s something in the computer system we can salvage that could give us anything,” suggested Pidge.

“It’s the best lead we’ve got. Do we have that data?” asked Keith.

“I pulled it before the funeral,” Coran plugged a drive into the main computer and a large array of data was suddenly pulled up.

Alfor whistled. “Well, credit where it’s due Zarkon; your armada has certainly been busy.”

“I’ll say. They’ve nearly conquered a full half of the universe.” Keith was rightly amazed; half the observable universe (from Earth) was nearly 46.5 billion lightyears across and the Galra had conquered it and who knows how much more in only one century.

“And their capital; planet Korrinoth is right in the middle of all that madness,” Alfor added. “Even with Voltron, it is going to be a significant chore to handle this.”

“ _Well, it won’t just be Voltron._ ” Shiro was surprised that his communicator was on, but even more so by the figure that just holo-projected herself from the communicator; an older white woman wearing a Garrison uniform.

“Admiral Sanda. Uh, ma’am!” Shiro quickly saluted, as did Sam and the Paladins.

“ _At ease._ ” The admiral’s hologram then moved over to Alfor. “ _Voltron won’t be alone in this fight. The Galaxy Garrison and Coalition Starfleet are all more than willing to assist you in this war, your majesty._ ”

“Thank you, Admiral,” The king bowed in respect before the Admiral’s hologram deactivated.

“So what now?” asked Pidge.

“Our first order of business is to drop Romelle off on Pollux, and after that, we move to the nearest Galra occupied planet; Lamrok.” Alfor planned, loading Lamrok’s coordinates into the castle navicomputer.

“Alright then. Let’s get this bird off the ground.” Shiro smiled as everyone moved to their seats and activated their holographic displays.

“Activate interlock,” Alfor ordered.

“Dynotherms connected,” Coran reported.

“Infracells up,” Pidge said.

“Mega-thrusters are go,” Lance smirked.

“All systems green. We’re a-go for launch.” Once Shiro said that the whole castle started shaking as its engines fired. The cliff crumbled as the thrusters burned in bright blue flames and the castle slowly rose up off the planet’s surface and into the empty blackness of space.

“We are now officially out of atmosphere. Artificial gravity and life support are online.” Melenor reported.

“Alright. Let’s set her down on Pollux and drop Romelle off with her folks, then we bro on down the hyperspace lane to Lamrok.” Lance leaned back in his seat, unzipping his old red sweater.

“I should be able to make it myself,” Romelle grinned proudly. “Allura isn’t the only one of the Royal Family who knows how to fly a ship.”

“Indeed not.” Alfor smiled fondly. “Do you remember the Summer Berry Festival when Allura was six, Melenor?”

“Oh yes, when Avok’s low flying made Bandor spill juniberry juice on her favorite dress,” The queen gave a kind laugh as she looked at her giggling daughter. “You were so upset.”

“It took forever for you to calm me, Mother.” The family laughed for a moment before calming down and the two cousins smiling at each other. “We’ll see you soon Romelle.”

“Stay safe, Cousin.” With that, Romelle walked off the bridge, seemingly normally. But Lance noticed something from her as she passed Sven; she gave her hair a little flip to one side and started subtly leaning his direction as she left for the hangar. Sven seemed to let his face fall after the hair thing, but Lance knew that body language anywhere; Romelle was flirting with the team’s resident Norseman which could only mean one thing; she was in love with him.

Within a few minutes, Romelle had launched a shuttle pod from the castle and flew away, back to planet Pollux. But what no one knew was that a Galra soldier had somehow managed to infiltrate the pod undetected in the earlier attack. The reason for her being undetected was because she was actually part-Siblian, and thus had her other parent-race’s cloaking ability, which she dropped as she slipped up to the cockpit and quickly stuck Romelle with a drug which promptly sent her unconscious.

“Ezor to main ship. The princess has been secured, and she’s more than ready to head back to Korrinoth.”

“ _Understood Ezor, report to the ship immediately. I wish to inspect my new bride before my father sees her._ ”

“Yes, Prince Lotor.” And with that, Ezor flew the ship to a different area of the star system where it quickly docked on-board a separate Galra ship, which then made its way back to Galra space.


	9. Wrong Princess

Lotor smiled as his general walked into his cabin on the ship with the still unconscious Altean princess in her arms. His father wasn’t kidding; this princess was beautiful and completely perfect for the prince.

“Ahh. Excellent work, Ezor. You may leave her on the bed; I have business to attend to.” And indeed he did; his desk was littered with data files on what had been happening these past hundred years.

“You got it, sire.” Ezor simply laid the princess on the bed and left the chamber. Almost an hour later, the drug Romelle had been injected with started to wear off and she was slowly roused from her sleep. Giving quiet groans, she carefully sat up and held her head from the pain.

“Ow. Wha-?” Then her eyes snapped open upon seeing her surroundings and she squeaked as she pulled her knees to her chest. “Wha?! Where am I?! What is this?!”

Lotor quickly walked over to the bed and shushed her as calmingly as possible. “Now-now princess, there’s nothing to worry about.”

Romelle could easily think of several things to contradict that statement; chief among them being… “You’re Galra.”

“I am indeed.” Lotor tried his best to seem unintimidating, but he wasn’t sure if it was working or not. “I am Lotor, son of Zarkon and heir to his imperial throne.” He extended his hand to the princess who recoiled a small bit. “And I would be more than willing to welcome you as my empress, beauteous princess of Altea.”

 _That_ gave Romelle significant pause. “What?”

Outside the room on the bridge, Lotor’s half-breed generals were discussing things. “And you’re sure the princess will want to marry the prince?”

“I don’t think it matters what she _wants_ , Acxa.” Ezor shrugged. “You remember how things were last century; what Lotor wants, Lotor gets.” Suddenly Romelle was thrown from the prince’s cabin onto the catwalk near the generals.

They looked and saw Lotor looking at them with intense anger in his eyes. “Idiot!” They weren’t positive, but the generals were pretty sure he was directing that at Ezor. “This is the princess of Pollux, you Siblian bonehead!”

Yeah, he was directing that at Ezor. “Well, how was I supposed to know? She’s Altean, she was in an Altean pod. Heck, she matched the description Sendak fed us.”

“She just told me the whole thing; Sendak must’ve seen her cousin, the true princess. The two are practically identical.”

“Hang on a sec Lotor. I think this can still work for us.” the third general suggested.

Lotor was still on-edge as he looked over at his general. “Explain Zethrid, while Ezor can still breathe.”

The half-Bralkian general took a breath to steel her nerves before she got to her point. “This may not be the princess the emperor sent us to get, but she’s still our target’s cousin, so we can use her as-”

“Leverage.” Lotor started to get the idea now. “I like this plan, Zethrid. So we hold her prisoner and say we will only release her in exchange for our true target and Voltron.”

“They’ll never go for it.” Acxa had always been the bluntest of the prince’s generals. “The Alteans on Pollux are more likely to simply send a battalion from their army to recover her themselves. And that’s the best-case scenario.”

“What’s worst-case?” Ezor asked simply.

“They send Voltron to liberate her and then obliterate us,” Lotor growled at his half-Drule general; he hated to admit it, but he knew she was right on both fronts.

“Fine. Then we send a message to my father and-” Suddenly the communicators blipped, dragging the prince from his thoughts.

“My lord, we’re receiving a transmission on a restricted band.” one of the lieutenants reported.

“Patch it through,” Lotor growled.

The image of a brown-haired Altean with blue eyes in seemingly regal garb appeared on the screen. “ _Attention unidentified ship, this is Prince Avok of Pollux on a search for his younger sister Princess Romelle. Please respond, over._ ”

Lotor suddenly found himself smiling; now seemed like a perfect opportunity to use the leverage Zethrid just recommended. “Zethrid, get the princess up.” She wasted no time in picking the young woman up by her shoulder, making it seem as though she was comfortable. “Communications officer, open a hailing frequency.”

“Yes, sir.” A few beeps and Avok’s eyes suddenly popped open, clearly surprised by the sight of a Galra on the other side of the screen.

“Prince Avok, a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Lotor put on his best formal face for this communique. “I am Lotor, son of Emperor Zarkon and heir to the throne of the Galra Empire. I am pleased to inform you that your sister is safely on-board my ship.” He then stepped to the side and showed the prince that Romelle was indeed with him.

Avok scowled as he saw this. “ _Might one ask why she is aboard your ship, Prince Lotor?_ ”

“Nothing more than a simple case of mistaken identity, Avok, I assure you.” Lotor waved his hand as if dismissing the matter. “My general mistook her for our true target; your cousin Princess Allura.”

“ _Well, I suppose I can see where your general was confused; they are incredibly alike._ ” Avok gave a small smirk as he remembered something. “ _In fact, I seem to recall our brother Bandor suggesting she have an Altean alchemist change her skin tone to something more distinguishable._ ”

Lotor shared a chuckle with the prince. “Yes, I think I can see his intention in saying that.” Lotor laughed for a few more seconds before he quickly cleared his throat. “In any case, I’m afraid Princess Romelle will remain with us.”

“ _Is there any way I might be able to do to sway your opinion otherwise?_ ” Avok asked.

“I’m afraid not. Unless…”

“ _Unless what?_ ” Lotor smirked at the prince’s question; his plan was going off without a hitch.

“Unless you agree to assist me in destroying Voltron and taking your cousin for myself.” He moved to Romelle and held her chin, which she seemed greatly averse to. “If she is even half as beautiful as your sister, then I would say I am in for a treat.” Romelle was insulted and still disgusted by the prince’s advances so she spat in his face.

This nearly earned her a punch in the stomach from Zethrid, but Lotor raised a hand to stop her. “Agree to and follow through with my terms and I can assure you no harm will come to your sister.” The prince turned back to the screen as he wiped the spit from his face. “Disagree, fail or do something _profoundly_ foolish such as attempt to contact the Paladins of Voltron to warn them of my plans and… well… I’d hate to be responsible for the outcome. Trust me; I am no stranger to violence or torture, but I despise being forced to such a low. You understand.”

“ _Of course, Prince Lotor._ ” Lotor smiled; though he may deny it, he did take after his father in at least one manner; he loved hearing the enemy acknowledge his royal title. “ _I agree to your terms._ ”

“Avok, don’t do this! Please, just contact Allura and the others! They can help!” Romelle yelled to him.

“Shut it!” Zethrid passed her to two sentries nearby, whose hands quickly locked around her arms and prevented her from struggling, and one of them quickly placed a hand over her mouth to quiet her.

“Excellent news, Prince Avok.” Lotor smiled. “But as I am sure you are well aware; the Castle of Lions is heavily fortified and the Paladins do routine inspections of the Lions. So you must destroy Voltron himself in his combined form.”

“ _And how do you propose I do that?_ ” Avok asked seriously.

“Simple. My father’s witch Haggar has been experimenting with special combinations of organic DNA and gargantuan robotics for the last hundred years in the event this matter were ever to arise.” Lotor explained. “She calls them Robeasts and I have just received a data notice that says she has recently perfected a prototype Robeast shell that only requires a willing organic pilot. Sound interesting?”

“ _If it means my sister will be returned safely if I pilot it, then I will do so._ ” Avok relented.

“Good. I’ll send word to Haggar immediately. Tell her that once you are locked into the Robeast to launch it to planet Crydor.”

“ _The ice planetoid?_ ” Avok asked.

“The very same. Simply use the Robeast to destroy Voltron, but leave the Blue Lion in one piece. I will require its pilot.” Lotor said. “Once this is done, Princess Romelle will be returned to you unharmed, and you may both return to planet Pollux.”

“ _Understood._ ” With that, Avok terminated the transmission and Lotor turned smiling to his generals.

“Ta-da.”

“Well, I think that went well.” Ezor smiled.

“You _think_ it went well?” Lotor smirked. “My dear general, in case you’ve already forgotten, I was there. And much like your late predecessor…” Smash-cut to Lotor stabbing an unimportant screaming Galra soldier straight through the face with a sword twice his size. Then smash-cut back. “…I killed it.”

“We’re not actually gonna be handing this one over though, are we?” Zethrid pointed to Romelle with her thumb.

Lotor chuckled. “Are you joking? Of course not. We enslave her and use her brother to conquer the rest of the universe in the name of my father. And if that doesn’t work out… well, you know how it works.”

“Of course sir. Shall we set course for Crydor?” asked Acxa.

“Please do. And contact Haggar with the details of my plan.” Lotor then turned to the two guards holding Romelle. “You two, take her back to my chambers and keep an eye on her until I come and sedate her. Prisoner or not, she must not be harmed or Avok will pull out of our agreement.”

“Yes, sir.” The sentries then marched Romelle, still kicking and screaming (though the latter was muffled by the sentry’s hand), to the prince’s quarters with the prince himself following close behind as the generals opened a channel to Haggar. Just as Romelle was placed on Lotor’s bed, she saw the holoprojection of the Robeast Haggar undoubtedly had in mind for her brother. And thanks to a hidden camera in her right bracelet, she was able to snap a quick picture of the plans just before Lotor walked in and sedated her, driving her to unconsciousness once again.

Once she stopped struggling, the sentries left the chamber and Lotor was left with the princess to fantasize. “ _Soon, Princess Allura._ ” He gave a slow lick down the side of Romelle’s face, pretending she was her cousin. “ _Soon, you will be mine._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah I know, creep alert! Sorry, but I think that's what Lotor might do in this scenario.


	10. Bro-Talk

The Paladins may have been more than ready to fight, but they also knew that this sort of job was going to require a lot of training. They just didn’t know how much. But they got the idea _real_ quick as they soon found themselves in full armor on the Castle of Lions training floor in the middle of a massive fight with specialized Altean training droids blasting impact paint at them, and Lance was having the time of his life as he swapped his Bayard between its blaster rifle and spear modes, blasting and slashing droids to scrap.

“WHOO!!!” he yelled just before he took a blast of impact paint to the shoulder, forcing him into the corner and forcing him to switch his Bayard back to blaster mode. “Oh my God, guys! Is this not the best?!”

“Ugh, I’m glad you’re having so much fun, Lance, because in case you didn’t notice, we’re getting hammered back here!” Keith and the others were currently stuck behind a piece of cover further behind Lance’s and indeed, they were covered in impact paint.

“Alright, alright, keep your pants on. I got this.” Lance just shouldered his rifle and blasted the droids closing in on the others to the ground. “You’re clear! Hunk, move up and mow ‘em down!”

“Got it!” Hunk quickly jumped into the fray and pulled his Bayard off his belt before blasting down dozens of droids at once, clearing a hole for the others. “Move up, guys! We got this!” The other paladins quickly closed in, with Hunk staying behind with Lance and Allura to cover Keith and Pidge as they closed in on their objective; a faux console which they quickly reached, allowing Keith to plant something on it.

“Drive is in place! Time to download; thirty seconds!” That just accelerated the training droids’ attack to the point that the other three had to fall back to avoid being completely plastered with paint.

“You’re almost dead, Hunk! And your team still has to get back to the dropship! You’ve got enough stamina and blood for maybe _one_ more move before you have to connect to the castle’s emergency life support system. What do you do?” Sven could be brutal in these sorts of training scenarios he programmed, but this was just crazy.

“Ugh! Okay cmon Hunk, think!” The yellow Paladin growled as he bonked his hand against his helmet. Then his helmet read-out showed something interesting. “Ooh. Hunk likey!” Quickly, he converted his Bayard back into melee mode and tossed it over the barricade, allowing it to land head-first on the ground in the middle of all the droids, creating a tremor powerful enough to knock them all away.

It almost knocked Keith and Pidge off their feet as well, but they managed to keep themselves under control long enough to grab the drive and jetpack back to the others with Keith grabbing Hunk’s Bayard on the way before handing it back. “Cmon guys, let’s go!” Quickly he put Hunk over his shoulder as Pidge grabbed Allura and Lance before they all jetpacked out of the training area to the safe-zone that was established to be the team’s dropship.

“Objective successful,” Keith reported over the coms. “End training sequence.”

That order prompted Sven to deactivate the droids and have the castle’s systems clean up all the renegade impact paint-splatters as Shiro walked over, clapping in an impressed manner. “Nice work Paladins! This might be one of our best training scenarios yet.”

“Hey, we wouldn’t have won if it weren’t for Hunk.” Lance patted his fellow Paladin on the shoulder. “Dude, how did you know your hammer could do that?”

“I didn’t. I just saw it on my HUD. Kinetic generator in the head. Probably gonna come in handy in a situation like this.”

“H-Hey wait a minute, where’s Sven?” Pidge was right; Sven hadn’t come to congratulate the Paladins on their hard-won victory against his latest training simulation. In fact, he wasn’t even in the control room anymore either.

“I dunno, probably coming up with something harder for us to go through.” Hunk chuckled. “Who knows? Maybe we’ll actually die in this one.” The others laughed as well, but Lance was actually concerned about Sven; If he couldn’t get the hint that Romelle was hitting on him, his chances with her were doomed.

“I’m gonna go check on him.” He jumped to his feet and walked away, getting his armor cleaned in the decontamination shower nearby before he moved on to find Sven in the lounge with headphones on connected to a holo-computer in front of him, clearly working on creating a new simulation just as Hunk had predicted.

Lance smirked as he slipped over behind him and moved one of the cups of the headphones with a finger. “You rock out while you work a lot?”

“Gah!” Sven jumped when he heard that and fell onto the ground, making his computer fritz out before it returned to normal. “Dammit Lance, I thought I told you not to do that.”

“Did you? Oh well if you did, I probably wasn’t listening.” Lance just grabbed the screen of his holo-comp and looked at it. “Alright, let’s see what you got for-” Naturally, what Lance saw on the screen was not at all what he had expected; it looked like a chapel dressed for a wedding. “Uh… I… honestly don’t know what to make of this.”

“Good.” Sven snagged the screen back. “Then stay out of it.” With that, he walked off. Once he was gone, however, Lance smiled as he put the pieces together and laughed.

“Ohhh-ho-ho-ho-ho, I get it.” He walked after Sven with a huge grin. “Those are sketches of your dream wedding with Romelle, aren’t they?”

“Leave me alone Lance.”

“Oh cmon man, gimme the deets. What’s the reception gonna be like? I’m guessing Smörgåsbord?”

“Great. Shut your guess-hole.” He looked back at the sketches. “Besides, what’s the point? I mean I think it’s obvious she isn’t into me.”

Lance chuckled as he jogged out in front of Sven. “Dude, are you seriously _that_ oblivious? That hair thing girls do is a classic non-verbal flirt; doing it exposes the armpit and lets loose pheromones. Plus, she was leanin’ your way when she was leaving. She’s all yours, compadre.”

“Lance cmon, stop doing that. Don’t think anyone at the Garrison has forgotten what you pulled with Kinkade and Jenny, least of all the victims themselves.”

“Ugh. Oh my god, that was the entrance exam week, 18 months ago. Seriously, how many times do I have to apologize for that?”

“Once would be nice! But you get where I’m going with this, right?”

“Yeah-yeah man, I get it; my rep as the academy heartbreaker still precedes me, but I’m being serious here.” Thankfully, Lance noticed Coran walking by with a few calculations on his tablet. “Coran, c’mere for a sec; back me up on this: is Romelle totally in love with Sven; yes or no?”

“Well, I doubt I was paying as close of attention as you, Lance, but I must say that just from the way she _looked_ at him when she was here, I would have to say yes.”

“Boom! Second opinion says yes! You’ve got a chance, Sven. Seriously, once this whole ‘saving the universe’ thing is done, you are gonna ask her out and then, after you give it a few years, you my man, are gonna be king of a planet!”

Sven sighed. “Alright, alright, you win. Once we’re done saving the universe from Zarkon then King Sven; maybe.”

"That's the best I'm gonna get out of you, isn't it?" Lance raised an eyebrow.

"Take it or leave it, man." Sven crossed his arm as if daring him to go with the latter.

“Eh. Alright, I'll take it.” Lance shrugged before turning to Coran. “Thanks for this Coran.”

“Ah, it’s the least I can do.” He smiled as he twirled his mustache. “Although I wouldn’t hold my breath for the throne if I were you, Sven. Not with Prince Avok next in line for it anyway. At best, I think you’d have to settle for first prince, ahead of Bandor.” Then he turned back to his tablet. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I believe I need to check with Pidge about getting my tablet debugged.”

“Why, what’s wrong with it?” asked Sven.

“Well, while we’re on the topic of Romelle, it appears that there’s something wrong with her tracking device.” Coran brought up a star-map. “It seems to be showing her as en route to planet Crydor, not at home on Pollux.”

“What’s Crydor?” asked Lance.

“An ice planetoid in the border between free space and the Galra Empire,” Needless to say, hearing Sven say that surprised Lance and Coran. “A race of arctic-dwelling, nearly Viking-like, people used to live there centuries ago before the planet completely froze over, destroying nearly all life. But some of them managed to escape before that frozen apocalypse occurred, scattering the legacy of their planet to the far reaches of the universe.” Suddenly he froze and cracked a smirk. “I didn’t even know I _knew_ that.”

“Well, however you did, you’re exactly right,” Coran remarked. “Most impressive.”

“My mother’s an astronomer and expert on obscure planetary lore. I must’ve subconsciously absorbed it during one of her rants about the Crydor system.” Sven shrugged.

“Well, either way, I’d best get this glitch cleared up,” Coran nearly made it away before he saw Melenor’s hologram approaching. “Ah. Your Grace, good day.”

“Good day, Coran. Is there something I can help you with?” The Queen's question was met with a smile.

“In fact there is. I simply need to see if there’s anything wrong with my tablet’s systems; Romelle’s tracker may be off-kilt but I just want to make sure.”

“Of course, Coran.” Melenor simply took the tablet in hand and ran a simple scan and de-bug program through it. But once she was done, she seemed worried. “I’m afraid there’s some good news and bad news. Your tablet is functioning perfectly.”

Coran and Sven were both worried, but Lance… “Wait, is that the good news or the bad news?” …Yeah.

“Both.”

“Oh.” Suddenly, Shiro came on over the intercom from the bridge.

“Attention crew; all hands to the bridge on the double. This is not a drill. I repeat, all hands to the bridge. Cmon people, move it!” Without a second thought, everyone on the ship quickly made their way up to the bridge to see an Altean on the screen with white hair and red eyes with brown pupils.

“Uncle Coba, please try to calm down.” Allura’s reasoning quickly helped the others realize that this person was Alfor’s brother and Romelle’s father. “Just explain what happened.”

“ _Of course, Allura. I apologize._ ” The king bowed before regaining composure and clearing his throat. “ _After you left Arus, we received word that there was a small Galra scout-ship near the planet’s asteroid belt, which apparently pulled an Altean shuttle pod into it before it took off for the universal border._ ” That didn’t exactly sing right with Coran, Lance, and Sven. “ _Not long after that, Avok left planet Pollux in a rather large rush. Said something about going to a moon near planet Crydor._ ”

That broke it. “Oh, crap.” Unfortunately, Lance’s outburst was heard by the others.

“‘Oh crap’ what?” asked Pidge.

“We just double-checked Romelle’s tracker; _it_ was en route to Crydor as well.” Coran’s answer scared the others.

“Wait-wait-wait-wait-wait, so you mean that the Galra have captured Romelle and have her stuck on-” Hunk ran a quick computer check to find out about Crydor before he got back to his statement. “-an uninhabitable ice planet, and Avok is going there to try and save her alone?!”

“So it seems,” Shiro shrugged. “Whoever commands that Galra ship she’s on probably struck a deal with Avok; destroy Voltron and Romelle would be returned.”

“ _Well, I suppose that makes some sense; though he and Bandor may taunt Romelle, they love her as only family truly would,_ ” Coba pondered. “B _ut he would never make any sort of deal with the Galra, especially not after they deprived him of my brother._ ”

The others looked at each other in unease; aside from a handful of trustworthy friends and superiors in the Garrison as well as Romelle herself, the crew of the Castle were the only ones in the universe who knew that both Alfor _and_ Melenor had been mapped into A.I.

“Well, rest assured Uncle, we’ll save them both from whatever Galra fiend is behind this whole thing,” Allura reassured her uncle as best she could. “Castle of Lions out.” With that, the communication was terminated and the holographic royal AI returned to the bridge.

“Whew. That was a bit too close.” Alfor wiped his holographic brow.

“Well, I guess Lamrok is gonna have to wait.” Shiro shrugged. “Coran, set course for Crydor. Sam, contact Garrison Command and get them to send part of the fleet in for backup. Paladins, get to your stations for Teleduv warp and prepare for deployment to the surface. Sven, check weapons systems just in case we need them.”

“Which will probably be extremely likely.” Sven rolled his eyes as everyone quickly set to work on their assignments.

“Galaxy Garrison, this is Commander Samuel Holt transmitting on a secure feed. I’d like to speak to Admiral Sanda.” Sam said officially over the coms.

“Coordinates readjusted to send us two systems out from Crydor so we don’t show up on Galra scanners,” Coran reported.

“Perfect. Initiate Teleduv hyperspace. Warp factor 3. Time to start the war.” At Shiro’s command, the castle’s engines quickly whined to full power and shot the structure across the universe, ready for battle.


	11. Frozen Wastes (pt. 1)

Prince Avok despised being forced to come anywhere close to crossing the Galactic Border, but to save his sister he was willing to do whatever was necessary, even if that meant meeting with a Galra witch on an isolated moon near the edge of free space. Upon landing, Avok was immediately welcomed by a few of the witch’s acolytes known as the Druids.

“The high priestess awaits you, Prince Avok.” one of them said. “She has asked that we escort you to her so we may begin the Robeast activation.”

“Very well.” With that, the prince walked to the witch’s compound, where Avok was stunned to see a large mechanical body in the large pit. “Whoa.”

“Incredible, is it not?” Avok’s attention was swiftly drawn to the witch nearby, clearly working on more of her dark magic.

“Indeed.” Avok hated to agree with a Galra, but he couldn’t deny it did seem powerful. “But are you sure it is capable of destroying a warrior such as Voltron?”

“You overestimate your guardian’s power.” Haggar hissed. “With your combat prowess, Voltron will crumble before you.”

Avok was still unsure whether he really wanted to do this or not, but he knew there was no other way to save his sister. “How do we proceed?”

Haggar nodded to one of her druids who pressed a button to pull a chair with strange ports out from the back of the large machine. “Sit. You will be connected once inside.”

“As you wish. And as a reminder; once this is done, I’m to be dispatched to Crydor.” Avok sat down in the chair and was pulled back into the machine before its back closed back up. “Okay, now what?”

“Now, my prince… _THIS!_ ” Suddenly Avok found himself locked to the chair (including a head-rig) and a barrage of strange hoses shot from it and connected to his flesh, injecting him with an unknown compound and creating channels for Haggar’s magic to course through his body. Naturally, this was excruciatingly painful for the prince as he started screaming in agony before suddenly lapsing into unconsciousness. The second he did, however, the Robeast’s eyes started glowing bright yellow and the mechanical monstrosity started growling. Haggar just gave a cruel smile and started giving a low evil laugh.

**Meanwhile…**

The Castle of Lions quickly dropped out of Teleduv warp two star systems away from the frozen wastelands of Crydor. Once there, Alfor brought up a visual of the system on the long-range scanners. “No Galra spacecraft for lightyears. We’ve made it first.”

“Double-check. Pidge, scan for slipspace ruptures and neuron trails; see if we _are_ the first ones here.” Shiro ordered.

“Scanning now.” Pidge quickly ran the scanners across the system looking for both possible anomalies. Quickly the results came back. “Got it. Two ruptures; one into the system, one out. And a neuron trail between both. Looks like it came in, did a quick planet-hop on Crydor and then jumped back out of the system.”

“Can we identify what kind of ship it was from the trail?” Keith smiled at Hunk; always asking the right questions.

“Working on it. Cross-referencing enemy fleet files…” Eventually, Pidge got a hit in the castle’s database. “Got it; Slipline-class command fighter.”

“Slipline? Only Zarkon’s royal family, court and top-ranking personal generals have access to that model.” Alfor remarked. “By that logic, the true identity of whoever did this should be severely easier to uncover.”

“Yeah, but it also means that that planet-hopping they did was probably to drop Romelle off for Avok to pick her up,” Sven said hopefully. “Maybe we can find her.”

“Well, that seems like as good a bet as any.” Shiro agreed. “But we can’t just go charging in guns a-blazin’; they may have guards down there and we can’t risk friendly fire. We’ll need to send someone down to run recon.”

“I’ll do it.” Sven quickly stood. “I know a lot more about this planet than I thought I did from my mother’s lectures and tangents, so I know where they might’ve dropped her. I’ll just take a pod down and scope things out, drop a BLIP sensor and get a lay of the land. Once that’s done, I’ll call you guys to come down and get us off this rock.”

“Alright then. But make sure you’re warm,” Pidge moved from her seat. “I just ran an enviro-scan and it turns out that even in those subterranean crevasses you’re thinking about, it’s -40 ℃.”

“Relax, will ya Pidge? I’m from Norway; I can handle the cold.” Sven smiled. “And even if I couldn’t, I had this jacket custom-made, remember? Thermal threading.”

“It’s not you I was worried about. It’s Romelle.” Pidge said seriously.

Sven just smiled as he played with his jacket collar. “This isn’t the only thermal-threading jacket I have.”

“Then we have a plan. Sven, grab another jacket- uh, check that; make it a thermal coat, and take a shuttle down to the caverns.” Shiro ordered. “And take a gun just to be safe. Sam, how are we fixed for weaponry?”

“Standard-issue Coalition live-ammo and plasma weaponry. But I did manage to bring a little prototype of mine on-board before we left. I’ve been working on it for a while.” Sam smiled as he pulled a long case out from his station. He opened it up and it appeared to be a railgun rifle. “I’m thinking of calling it the ARC-935; my own invention that packs double the power of the ARC-9 _20_ into a gun with triple the mag-capacity of the original and automatic shot-charge as soon as you take the safety off.”

“Nice!” Sven smiled as he took it from the case and got a feel for it. “Hm. Weight’s good, looks accurate enough. Have you tested it on Galra armor yet?”

Sam gave a dry snicker. “I haven’t even had time to test it on _human_ armor.”

“Well, consider _this_ …” Hunk tossed a trashed Galra sentry from the last attack onto the ground nearby. “A test.” He activated robotic arms to pick up the ruined android and hold it with its feet just barely off the ground.

“Seriously?” Keith asked incredulously. “That thing’s dead.”

“Well yeah, but I checked everything; armor structural integrity is nominal and the internal computer systems are still within acceptable parameters.” Hunk justified. “This is just as good as having him shoot a working sentry. Just line ‘er up and let ‘er rip, Sven.”

“But be careful. That thing’s on a hair-trigger and it’s got a helluva kick.” Sam’s warning came just as Sven was lining up a shot at the target’s chest. A simple twitch and the gun fired the metal slug straight out, knocking Sven’s arm straight up and knocking him to the ground. Once he got up, he was stunned to see that basically, all that remained of the sentry _and_ its holding rig were sparking stumps near where the claws were once positioned.

He looked to the gun and then at Sam. “I’d say that’s a successful test.”

“I would too.” Sam’s stunned silence was suddenly broken by a giddy snickering that soon devolved into the whole room laughing it up.

“Holy crap, Sam!” Shiro slapped his hand onto the commander’s shoulder. “Why’d you keep this thing from me?”

“Cause I knew you’d want one in your hand!” The laughing just got louder after that until it eventually wound down and everyone calmed down.

“Seriously though; cool as this thing may be, it’s definitely overkill.” Sven placed it back in the case. “Maybe just a couple SMGs and I’ll be okay. And high-caliber ammo.”

“On it.” Hunk smiled as he brought up the ship’s armory manifest.

Soon enough, Sven was loaded out with guns and thermal garments for himself _and_ his soon-to-be passenger in the hangar. “Pod status?”

“Just recalibrated it for Crydorian atmo-conditions.” Pidge smiled. “You’re clear to launch whenever you want.”

“Well, no time like the present.” Sven smiled as he boarded the pod before looking at Shiro. “Permission to disembark, Captain?”

Shiro saluted his young soldier. “Permission granted.” Sven flashed his commanding officer a thumbs-up and sealed the cockpit. Everyone quickly gave the pod a wide berth as its engines spun up and the airlock forcefields activated. Once the airlock opened, Sven’s pod shot off the ship like a bat outta hell toward the planet. Lance and Coran were the only ones who really knew it, but Sven had his own reasons for wanting to go down alone; if Romelle did have a thing for him, it would become clear if she was saved by her knight in shining armor.


	12. Frozen Wastes (pt. 2)

“Breaching atmosphere now. Drag acceptable. Activating long-range BLIP scanners.” Once Sven had the scanners up, the results came in nearly instantly. “Scan results; twelve Galra Sentries, one Altean. And I’m getting a tracker reading from the Altean signature. Moving to secure.”

“ETA?” Shiro asked.

“3 minutes, max.”

“Roger that, standing by.” Unfortunately, once he said that and turned the comms off, the scanners started going off. “What’s going on, Coran?”

“An unknown object is entering the system.”

“Where from?” Keith asked commandingly.

“Not sure, but whatever it is, it’s big and it’s heading straight toward the planet.”

“Do you think it’s a Galra weapon?” Sam quickly checked the scanners to try and answer his own question.

“Unclear; it’s coming from somewhere in the border.” Suddenly the scanner feedback came in. “Confirmed. Definitely Galra.”

“How’d you figure that out?” Lance’s question was quickly answered by the large Galra fleet which quickly assembled in the Crydor system. “Oh.”

“Coran, get us in there now! Paladins, get to the Lions. Sam, get the Admiral on the line; I want every available Starfleet battleship out here three minutes ago.”

“Yes sir!” everyone yelled as they moved to their positions. Quickly the Paladins loaded into their Lion elevators and were sent down to long zip-line corridors which in turn led to speeder bikes which were loaded into the Lions’ cargo holds. Then the Paladins’ seats were disengaged from the speeders and locked into a track leading up their Lions’ gullets to the cockpits.

Once at the controls, the Paladins shot their Lions out of the castle to act as an escort across the two systems to Crydor. Once there, a large fleet of _Midgard_ -Class Starfleet battleships dropped out of Teleduv Warp around the castle.

The admiral’s image appeared on the hailing screen. “ _This is Admiral Sanda hailing the Castle of Lions. Give me a sit-rep, gentlemen._ ”

“Yes, ma’am.” Shiro saluted. “Princess Romelle of Pollux has been abducted and hidden in subterranean crevices on planet Crydor. Cadet Holgersson just went down in a pod and confirmed that.”

“Bit of an update on that front, Commander.” Sven’s voice on the comms surprised the castle crew, as did the sound of blaster fire hitting the hull of his pod. “The Sentries at the cave opening have spotted me and they’re firing on my pod. I can’t risk returning fire with the pod’s weapons or I might destabilize the caverns and crush Romelle. Moving for tactical collision.”

“That would block the exit to the cavern.”

“Just one of them, Shiro. I ran a geo-scan of the tunnels; there’s another opening about 10 miles away from the one I’m aiming for. Not exactly a simple jaunt but I think we can make it there and flag a pick-up.” Sven smirked as he sent the pod going full-blast down toward the opening. “Plus, it’ll give me one more thing to scratch off my bucket list. Right after ‘save an alien princess’.”

“That is a very specific bucket list, dude,” Lance said offhandedly… just before a massive impact and what sounded like shattering. “Sven?”

Shiro grunted. Militant though Sven may have been, he could be quite brash. But he didn’t have a lot of time to think about that as the Galra warships in the area started opening fire and deploying fighters. “Admiral Sanda, have the fleet open fire and deploy all MFE fighters. We need this airspace if we’re gonna get Sven and Romelle off that planet.”

“Understood Captain.” Sanda quickly hit a button on the console activating the fleet intercom. “All ships, deploy MFEs and open fire on the enemy crafts. I want them scrapped before any of them can get a shot out on the planet. Let’s hustle people, move it!” The commanders didn’t need another order as they quickly opened fire and deployed jet-fighter-like ships to destroy the Galra fighters.

Meanwhile, Sven had just crashed the pod into the cavern and used one of the thermal jackets he brought to help protect his body from the glass before he landed and pulled out his SMGs, aiming them at the remaining eight sentries who had their blasters trained on him. “Sie sind das Essen und Wir sind die Jäger.” (Translation: “They are the food and we are the hunters.”) With those simple words, he pulled the triggers on his guns and blasted the Sentries across their chests, very nearly sawing their top-halves off with the high-caliber bullets he brought, casings raining down into the snow on the cavern floor along with their bodies. Once done, Sven reloaded both his guns just in case and holstered one of them to get on the comms. “Holgersson to Coalition ships. Cavern hostiles eliminated. Moving to secure objective.”

He could easily tell from her tone, but Admiral Sanda was definitely smiling at his combat prowess and protocol genius. “You’ll make a fine officer one day, Holgersson.”

“Thank you, Admiral.” With that, he turned off the comms and pulled out his other gun before moving through the tunnels. Finally, he found the princess locked in a Galra cell down one cavern. “Romelle!”

The princess was cold and weak from her time on this planet, but she still smiled warmly when she saw her hero was there. “Sven! Oh, thank the Ancients!”

Sven quickly blasted the lock with one of his guns, depowering the door-field before he pulled her up into a hug and wrapped her in the thermal coat he brought, quickly turning up the power of the threading to help her warm up. “Are you okay?”

Romelle gave a humorless chuckle. “I’ve been better.” Then she sneezed into the snow outside of her cell. “Guh. Case in point; the last time I had a cold was when Bandor was three.”

“Don’t worry, it’ll pass. Now, what do you say we get out of here?” Sven smiled.

“We can’t. Not yet. Avok is on his way.”

“Well, that just makes it better. He can give us a ride off this rock.”

“No, I mean-”

Suddenly Hunk came in over the comms. “ _Uh Sven, hate to interrupt but you might wanna hunker down and grab onto something structural."_

“What? Why?” His question was suddenly answered by the large object the Galra had escorted in crashing into the planet, causing a massive seismic event and a large cloud of ice to shoot down the tunnels. “Oh crap! Quick, back into the cell!” Romelle didn’t have to be told twice as they both bunkered down with a thermal blanket Sven brought draped over them, protecting them from the ice. Once it settled, Sven quickly dug them out. “Cmon Romelle, we’ve got to get to the extraction point.” But once he stepped on the ice outside the cell, it gave way under his feet and dropped the two down another cave, killing his helmet’s GPS.

Naturally, the fleet was more concerned with the large craft that just crashed. “ _Paladins, report. What is that thing?_ ” Shiro ordered. The Lions quickly flew to the surface to try and get a better look at the strange craft.

“Not sure.” Keith raised an eyebrow as he looked at the device. “It kinda looks like… a giant coffin?”

“ _What? That doesn’t make any sense._ ” Sanda was understandably confused. “ _Coran, are there any sort of large beings in Galra Space that could fit in one of those things?_ ”

“ _Not that I know of, Admiral._ ” Coran twisted his mustache as he thought.

Suddenly the coffin started venting some sort of steam as the lid started to move. But before it could fully be removed, a large metallic purple fist shot out through the lid and grabbed the side, lifting the large body it was attached to out with it. The machine was massive with minimal battle-armor and yellow eyes, along with a superficial-seeming white cape.

Once its eyes locked on the Lions, it growled. “Voltron!” This voice seemed almost like it was about to dissolve into animalistic growling at any minute. “DIE!!!” Then it drove one of its large fists down to try and punch the Red Lion.

“Oh no, ya don’t!” Lance smirked as he quickly made Red dodge, letting the enemy’s fist drive itself into the ice. “What’s the game-plan, Keith?”

“We’ve gotta cover Sven and Romelle until they can get outta there.” Keith’s serious tone suddenly took on a smirk as he came up with a plan. “Besides, if this thing wants to fight Voltron, then who are we to object?”

“Are you gonna say what I think you’re gonna say?” Hunk smiled. “Please say yes.”

“Hell yeah. FORM VOLTRON!!!” With that order from the Black Paladin, the Lions quickly took off into formation.

The Black Lion’s forelegs folded into the body and it shifted for the head to be facing straight ahead like a human’s. Keith stood up and smiled as he dropped down the main cockpit chute.

The Red and Green Lions folded their legs as well and locked to the Black Lion’s shoulders, sending Lance and Pidge up to the cockpit as well. Once they were gone, the Lions’ jaws and heads unlocked and slid back on the arms, revealing large hands with circular plasma cannons in the palms.

The same thing happened to the Blue and Yellow Lions, but they locked to the Black Lion’s hind legs forming shins and feet, sending Hunk and Allura up to the cockpit as well. Once all the Lions had locked together, the Black Lion opened its mouth to reveal a silver metal plate which parted to reveal a silver face-plate with blue, red and green around the eyes, which suddenly flashed to solid yellow and the Black Lion’s gold ears folded out into tall horns.

Once all the Paladins were in the main cockpit, they all smiled as Voltron stood strong with Keith. “Alright Paladins, let’s do this. Time to go to war.” With that, he moved to charge with Lance and Pidge firing the rocket-wings full-blast. Unfortunately, the straight Keith tried was immediately caught by the large machine which then tossed them over its shoulder. Quickly, Hunk and Allura fired the leg rockets and quickly got Voltron back on his feet.

“Okay, so that didn’t work.” Lance groaned from the jostling as the enemy tossed its cape off to one side. “Any ideas?”

“Yeah, how about we don’t do hand-to-hand with this thing?” Hunk was looking at the weapon scans of the enemy machine and they weren’t looking good. “Those are Meteor Impact Gauntlets, so unless we have some of our own, and also some epic armor, we’re dead if we go for that.”

“Okay so, plan B anyone?” Lance asked. “I’m all ears here.”

“How about a sword-fight?” Keith smiled. “Form Blazing Sword!” Once the large blade formed, Keith charged in only for the machine to block it with a sword of its own; identified by the scanners as a Diamond Edge Gladius.

“Looks like he’s prepared for that too,” Lance growled. “Pidge, activate the shield. Something tells me we might need it.”

“On it.” A few button presses and the small shield at the Green Lion’s shoulder flipped down to Voltron’s wrist and projected a plasma-field from the metal body to form a good-sized shield, ready for combat. A similar shield flipped out of Keith’s gauntlet, which he quickly charged to bash with. This would be a fight for the ages.


	13. Voltron VS. Heracles Robeast-Frame

Under the ice, Sven and Romelle had slid down the ice for what felt like hours before they finally crashed to a stop in a large cave. They both got up groaning from the fall, but they were otherwise okay. At least, that’s what Sven thought until he saw something coming from Romelle’s leg that was turning the snow red. “Oh jeez, are you okay Romelle?”

“I’m fine.” She tried to stand up but found herself only losing more blood. “Okay, this might take a while to heal.”

“Just hold still for a second, I gotcha.” Quickly Sven ripped the sleeve off of one of his extra jackets and wrapped it around her wound. “There. That should help. But you should probably take it easy; I’ll get us out of here.”

“Not yet. I have to get a message to my cousin. Is your comm-unit still working?”

“Let’s find out.” Quickly, Sven pulled his comm-unit out of his helmet and turned it on. “Sven to Voltron. Keith, do you copy?”

“ _Kinda busy trying not to get killed right now, Sven! This had better be important!_ ” Keith growled over his helmet comm.

“It is.” Romelle quickly took the comm unit and spoke into it. “Please, you must listen. That Robeast you’re fighting, it’s-”

“ _Whoa-whoa, hold the phone. This thing is called a Robeast?_ ” Lance asked in amusement. “ _What kinda name is that?_ ”

“The kind that describes the fusion of organic DNA and robotics large enough to match Voltron’s size.” Romelle groaned at being interrupted. “In this case, the organic part being played by my brother Avok.”

“Wait, what?!” Sven was shocked.

“Romelle, you’re joking. Avok is inside this thing?” Allura asked as Voltron was pushed back in its duel with the Robeast.

“Then why is he trying to kill us?” Hunk asked as he quickly gave the left kick Keith was doing a little extra boost with the thrusters.

“ _Not all of you. He wants Allura alive._ ” Romelle explained. “ _I was there when he made the deal with Zarkon’s son Lotor._ ”

“Zarkon has a son?!” Shiro asked in surprise.

“Indeed. Prince Lotor is a great warrior and an even better negotiator.” Alfor answered. “It would stand to reason that he would talk Avok into doing this. But it doesn’t make sense; why does he want Allura?”

“Twenty bucks says he wants her to be his wife.” Lance rolled his eyes as he made this bet.

“ _Pay the man._ ” Romelle rolled her eyes as well. “ _But there **was** one thing that confused me; Lotor ordered Avok to leave the Blue Lion intact when he destroyed Voltron._”

“Yeah, that doesn’t make sense. We’re all in his chest-unit control-room when we combine, not the Lion cockpits.” Hunk explained.

“I doubt Lotor knows that,” said Sam.

“Well, that explains that. But what are we going to do?” asked Pidge. “If Avok’s piloting this thing, how are we going to destroy the Robeast without killing him?”

“Just leave that to me and Sven.” Romelle smiled as she signed off and handed him back the comm-unit.

“How are _we_ going to deal with this?” Sven asked realistically. “We’re trapped below-ground and from what I’m hearing up-top…” Large impacts were heard above as massive sword and shield collided in the battle. “That thing’s got some serious… armor.” Then he smiled as he came up with a plan. “Sam, load the 935 into an ordinance pod and launch it to our location.”

“Way ahead of you, but I won’t be able to get it precisely to you until you guys get to the surface,” said Sam.

“Understood,” Sven growled at that. “Great. How are we supposed to get to the surface?” Suddenly he heard something echoing down the tunnel. “Hey. Do you hear that?”

Romelle was confused. “Hear what?”

“That chanting.” And indeed, Sven heard some strange chanting. “I think it’s coming from this way.” He drew a gun just to be safe as he and Romelle wandered the tunnels until the chanting grew so loud that it was practically deafening Sven. Then when they rounded one corner, Sven was surprised by what he saw. “It’s… an ax.” And indeed, a large white one-handed battle-ax was jammed into a stone in the cave they looked into. And the handle was covered in ice.

Romelle’s eyes went wide. “Wait a minute. I’ve heard about this weapon. It’s the Averdon Eternius.”

“The Axe of Endless Winter? But that’s just a legend.”

“As was Voltron, but listen to the surface.” Romelle raised a good point.

“Alright, but why did _I_ find it?” Sven asked.

“You must be the fabled Frost-Render. Only he can hear the song of the frozen ax and lift it from the stone.”

“And then bring summer back to the planet, yeah I know the story.” Sven just scoffed. “But there’s no way it’s me; the story says the Frost-Render has to have the blood of the planet flowing through his veins and my family is purely human. No Crydorian blood.”

“Do you know that for sure?” Romelle asked. “You must remember that Crydorians _do_ heavily resemble humans. The only true difference is that Crydorians have adapted to handle the cold much better than other races.”

That made Sven think about something that happened to him when he was young; he and his family were going fishing on a frigid lake in Canada when the boat hit rough waters and he was thrown overboard into the freezing water. Yet he managed to swim back to the surface within only two minutes and he wasn’t even shivering from the water that had drenched his clothes. The only reason that could’ve happened would be if Sven _was_ part Crydorian. With that in mind, he took a deep breath. “Well, why not?” He simply placed his hand on the frozen handle of the ax and he didn’t freeze. He knew from the legend that if anyone aside from the Frost-Render laid so much as a _finger_ on the ax, they would be frozen to a point so cold that they would shatter like glass (as evidenced by the broken frozen chunks of various humanoid aliens scattered about the cave around the stone).

Since _he_ didn’t, it was confirmed that Sven was indeed the prophesied hero of planet Crydor. Pulling the ax at this point may have just been a formality, but he _did_ still need a way out of the caves so, with one strong fluid pull, the ax’s blade flew from the stone allowing Sven to get the balance right. He smiled as he turned on his comms. “Keith, do you have our location?”

“ _Affirmative. Why?_ ”

“Just get Avok clear of us and get ready for one _hell_ of an entrance. Sven out.” Once he signed off, he took the ax in both hands and gave it a hard upward swing, somehow rending two levels of ice above.

“ _Whoa! Sven?!_ ” Lance asked amazed.

“The one and only, pal.” Sven produced a grappling hook from his belt and fired it to the top of the large hole. “Hang on tight, Romelle.” The princess threw her arms around the young warrior and with one twitch on the retraction trigger, the two shot up to the surface on the line and landed almost face-first in the snow. Suddenly the Yellow Lion landed very near the two. Looking up, they saw that Voltron was trying his best to keep the Robeast from crushing the two.

“ _Sven, I’ve got your GPS location. Still want me to send the 935 down?_ ” Sam asked over the comms.

“No need, commander.” Sven smiled as he spun the ax on his hand. “I’ve got everything I need right here.”

“The implication being?” Sam asked.

“ _Focus in on me and you’ll find out._ ” Sam did just that and was surprised when he saw the ax.

“What the heck? Where’d you get that?”

“Impossible…” That comment from Alfor confused the others. “I thought it had been lost since the final battle.”

“What’re you talking about, Alfor?” Shiro asked.

“That weapon Sven holds…” The king pointed to it. “It is the White Bayard.”

“The what?!” Shiro, Sam, _and_ Sven said all at the same time, along with the Paladins.

“ _Wait, so then does that mean there’s a white Lion on this planet?_ ” asked Lance.

“No, only five Lions of Voltron were ever built. But there are _hundreds_ of Bayards scattered to the far reaches of the universe, wielded by the leaders of countless powerful alien species.” Alfor replied. “But I’m afraid the story is too long to tell in the middle of a battle this massive and important. Finish it, and I will tell you the full story.”

“I’m afraid that’s easier said than done, father,” Allura growled as she fired a stingray missile from her Lion into the Robeast, knocking him back.

“Hang on, if this thing’s a Bayard, then does that mean it has-” Sven’s question was answered when the ax in his hand quickly shifted into a small rifle with what looked like an M203 grenade launcher locked onto the bottom, both of which gave off a cold vapor. “A ranged mode- Nice! What is this thing, a freeze ray?” A simple pull of the main trigger as the device was aimed for the leg of the Robeast confirmed this, as a massive beam of intense cold shot off froze the enemy’s leg to the ground, leaving it trapped. “Ohhhh-hohohohohohoho! This thing is awesome! So wait, what’s this one do?” A quick pull of the trigger on the grenade launcher and a rather large icicle shot out of it at intense speeds, piercing the ice on the Robeast’s leg, and cracking the armor. Sven looked between the mech and the rifle and smiled. “Okay. I am going to have some fun with this thing.”

“Save that for later. Right now, we need to get Avok out of that thing!” Romelle quickly grabbed Sven by the arm and the two ran to board the Robeast. Quickly the two climbed the large machine as best they could with it doing its best to swat them off like mosquitos. Once up at the cockpit area (as indicated by Romelle’s camera-bracelet), Sven quickly froze the panel till brittle and then chopped it open with the ax to reveal that Avok… well, to say he’d had better days would be an overstatement; the various connections and clamps had very nearly destroyed his body, and his eyes were puffed open by the head-brace to a point of appearing unnatural.

“Eehh!” That was all Sven could think to say when he saw the condition the prince was in, and reasonably so as well. “Think we should cut him loose?”

“Not yet,” Romelle said, staying Sven’s ax. “If we disconnect him without taking the necessary precautions, we may risk killing him.”

“And if you don’t disconnect him either way, _he’ll_ kill _us!_ ” Keith said over Voltron’s speakers.

Sven did a quick system-scan of everything connected to Avok with his helmet and found that there _was_ no risk in disconnecting him, so… “Screw it; stand back.” Then with one simple swing of the blade and then a bonk on each of the restraints with the back of the ax, Avok was freed and Sven quickly took him into his arms sliding back into the snow. “Admiral, send down an MFE! We’ve got Prince Avok loose and he needs medical!”

“ _Roger that, Holgersson._ ” The admiral replied. “ _Dispatching Ares-3 to your position._ ”

“Acknowledged.” Sven slung Avok over his shoulder and held Romelle on his other arm, leading her away from the battle. “Robeast’s all yours, Voltron.”

“Roger that. Thanks, Sven.” Keith smiled as he had Voltron drop the shield, which Pidge then deactivated and locked back onto her Lion. “Alright Paladins, time to end this.” With that, he locked Voltron’s other hand onto the Blazing Sword and charged the Robeast with the blade bursting into flames as it swung toward the Robeast. Unfortunately, the Robeast suddenly jerked up and swung its own blade to knock the Blazing Sword away.

“Are you kidding me?!” Lance growled. “How is this thing still going? Sven broke Avok out!”

“It must have an AI back-up system!” Pidge analyzed.

“I can confirm that.” Hunk looked over the results of the scan he quickly conducted. “And this one seems a lot more aggressive.” This was suddenly confirmed by the Robeast drawing a second sword and lunging at Voltron with them. “Reengage shield!” Pidge quickly did so and Voltron blocked the weapons.

Sven saw this from his position on the ground, even if he _had_ moved a fair few yards away to await pick-up with Romelle and Avok. Finally, their MFE transport landed close to them and Sven quickly ran to board it. But he was very surprised by who he saw behind the controls; a blonde Norwegian girl about his age with blue eyes and a very simple look on her face. Sven recognized her almost instantly. “Ina?”

“Hello, Sven.” Her voice was very simple and monotone.

“Wait, you two know each other?” Romelle’s question made Sven suddenly uncomfortable.

“Yes, I know her.” He said nervously. “Princess Romelle, this is my cousin Lieutenant Ina Leifsdottir. Ina, this is our objective Princess Romelle, and her brother Prince Avok.”

“Pleasure. All aboard.” Even though she said that, her facial expression and tone didn’t change at all. Sven ignored it as the three boarded.

“Is she always like this?” Romelle asked as she strapped herself in.

“Ina’s more the calculative, analytical type than anything else.” Sven strapped Avok into the fighter and locked in next to his cousin. “How fast can you get us to the _Nightingale_ , Ina?

“Given the flack and factoring atmospheric drag, 137 seconds.” Ina sealed the cockpit and quickly launched bound for one of the battleships.

Voltron wasn’t doing very well as the Robeast was still beating down on it with everything it had, and to make matters worse (at least from one perspective), Keith could feel every ounce of damage Voltron took as physical pain thanks to his technopathic link with the knight. “Status report.”

“Voltron’s losing power. At this rate, we’ll have to fall back to the Castle and regroup before we even stand a chance of taking this thing down.” Pidge analyzed.

“And the wind-chill isn’t exactly helping with that,” Allura added. “My father may have built the Lions to handle extremes, but if we’re here for too much longer, we’ll start to lose vital systems.”

“Then we’ve gotta take this thing down now.” Keith was panting and groaning like a wounded man, but he had to power through the pain if they were ever going to win. He charged again, giving a loud angry growl as he slashed at the Robeast with the sword but it was knocked from Voltron’s hand, landing it point-first in the ice yards away, with Keith’s Bayard being knocked out of _his_ hand and landing in the far back of the cockpit. “Ugh, great. Now what?!”

Suddenly Hunk heard Voltron’s growling in his head, telling him to do something. Then a small compartment opened up in his chair’s right arm. “Hey Keith, I think Voltron wants me to give you my Bayard.”

“Well, far be it form us to not listen to him. Send it my way.”

“Roger that.” Hunk quickly locked his Bayard into the compartment and it quickly teleported the weapon to Keith’s belt, allowing him to grab it off.

Then Voltron started growling to Keith as well, telling him what to do. “Form Hyper-Roar Cannon!” He quickly slammed his right hand onto the Bayard and formed a shape on his arm leading back to his shoulder. Voltron mirrored his actions and on his shoulder formed a massive yellow and white cannon with the trigger in the red hand with a standard earth Lion-head on the muzzle.

“Ho-ho-ho-holy shit!” Hunk laughed happily. “ _So_ glad we listened to Voltron on that.”

“Yeah, this thing will _vaporize_ that hunk of junk.” Lance smiled.

Keith wasn’t too sure as he had Voltron fly out of the Robeast’s range and keep it pinned with standard hand-blasts from the left arm. “Pidge, how much power does this cannon need?”

Pidge quickly ran a diagnostic on the cannon and the results she got back weren’t exactly good. “Leagues more than we have.”

“Is there any sort of way we can recharge Voltron mid-fight?” Hunk asked.

“ _There is one,_ ” Alfor’s reply over the comms filled the group with hope. “ _But… it’s a very advanced technique. You may not be ready for it._ ”

“We’re willing to try anything, Father. Just tell us what to do.” Allura’s concerned tone clearly worried her father, so he growled and conceded.

“ _You’ll need to get the Blazing Sword back in-hand._ ”

“Piece of cake.” Hunk smiled as he looked at the feed from his Lion’s eyes. “I’ve got a visual of it now. Keith, drop down and grab it.”

“Roger.” Keith quickly did so and grabbed the sword in Voltron’s left hand, getting his red Bayard back into _his_ left hand under the shield. “Okay, we’ve got it. Now what?”

“ _Lock the sword onto Voltron’s back between his booster wings._ ” Keith quickly did so, aligning the sword to be exactly vertical down Voltron’s back. “ _Now lock the shield onto the sword, emblem pointed to the back._ ” Keith was confused about that, but he quickly did so, prompting a strange energy field to spread between the shield and the wings.

“ _There. What now?_ ” Keith asked.

“Now… well, you might want to brace yourselves.” Alfor’s question confused Shiro and the Paladins, but the pilots still remained steady. “Coran, fire the proton cannon at the panel on Voltron’s back, full power.”

“Yes, my king.” This order understandably frightened Shiro.

“What?! I thought we were _recharging_ Voltron, not destroying it!” he said in concern.

“Of course we are.” Coran smiled. “Just remain calm and watch.” Shiro wasn’t sure what to think, but he did as he was told.

Coran charged the cannon to near full power and smiled as he moved his finger to the trigger button. “Fire in the hole!”

“WAIT, WHAT?!?” Lance’s terrified question was unfortunately left unanswered for a few seconds until the blast flew down to the large knight, hitting the panel dead-on.

Keith groaned at the impact but suddenly he felt himself gaining more power as the radiation of the blast passed through the panel on the back and flowed into Voltron’s body. “Pidge, status report.”

Pidge quickly checked the readouts and was amazed by what she saw. “This is incredible. Power levels are at 500% and rising exponentially,” she said with a sense of awe in her voice.

“Well…” Keith smirked. “How about that?” Keith quickly dropped to a kneeling position and steadied the cannon, the blast dissipating as the charge panel moved when Voltron mirrored the pilot. “Pidge, divert excess power to the cannon. Lance, lock targeting onto the Robeast and stand by for possible recoil. Hunk, Allura, lower your Lions’ forepaws into the ice; anchor us in. This is gonna be fun.” Everyone quickly did so as the fleet kept the Robeast distracted.

“Cannon is fully charged!” Pidge reported.

“Admiral Sanda, pull everyone back! This is gonna be big!” Keith smiled.

“ _Roger that. All ships pull away from the Robeast. Voltron is about to try something and it’s going to be big!_ ” Once the order went out, all Coalition ships flew away from the area of engagement.

“Fire in the hole!” Once Keith smirked that out, he pulled the trigger and a massive torrent of blue energy shot out of the cannon accompanied by what sounded like a massive feline roar. The recoil very nearly knocked Voltron’s shoulder out of its socket along with Keith’s, but the great knight still stood his ground (though it was pushed back a decent distance) as the cannon’s beam blasted out _past_ the Robeast and obliterated a few battalions of enemy ships. Once the cannon lost power, it disappeared and Keith dropped the yellow Bayard onto the floor of the cockpit and panted, rolling his shoulder. “Whoo! Man… that was awesome.”

“ _Uh… guys? You should seriously see this._ ” Shiro’s stunned voice came in over the coms, prompting Keith to make Voltron look up at its target, and once the Paladins saw what they did to it, they were stunned.

“Holy shit!!!” Lance’s comment about summed things up; the cannon’s blast literally neutronized the upper half of the Robeast, leaving only its legs standing… for about thirty seconds. After which, they fell to the knees and then crashed onto the ground, allowing the Paladins to see the **_massive_** gash the cannon had left on the planet’s surface.

Keith’s eyes drifted around his team. “Only use that as a last resort?” Everyone nodded aggressively at that, but then Pidge realized something.

“Hey wait, what’s that?” she asked, looking at the Robeast’s remains.

Hunk quickly scanned it himself. “Looks like some sort of power-core.”

“How’d that thing survive a blast like that?” Lance was right to ask, but then Hunk’s eyes went wide.

“It didn’t! It’s been breached!” Quickly he ran some calculations. “It’s gonna explode in a few seconds!”

“According to my calculations, when this thing blows it’ll take the entire planet with it!” Pidge said in concern.

“We’ve got to get it off the planet!” Allura yelled.

“I think I have an idea for that.” Lance smiled. “Just kick it into the star as hard as you can.”

“It’s the best chance we’ve got. Let’s do it!” Keith growled as he made Voltron run to the machine as fast as it could and drive the Blue Lion into it, sending it flying off the planet through what was left of the Galra fleet and straight into the system’s large star, creating an explosion large enough to see from the planet’s surface.

Keith smiled as he saw that, then looked to the Galra fleet. “Pidge?” He smirked. “Activate exterior speakers.”

“Roger that.” Pidge quickly did so and Voltron looked to the fleet.

“ **Anybody else?** ” The knight’s voice growled in what sounded like a modulated version of Keith’s own voice. Surprisingly, the Galra ships did open fire on Voltron, though the blasts barely felt like mosquito bites to Keith. “ **Thought so.** ” With that, Keith deactivated the recharge panel on Voltron’s back and drew the Blazing Sword off, allowing the blade to burst into flames (and Lance turned on Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” on the exterior speakers, just because). Then he simply had the great knight take-off from the surface of the planet and flew through the fleet, slashing the ships apart into massive explosions as the song thrummed through the atmosphere.

A few Galra ships left the system, but Voltron still took this as a victory as Keith simply deactivated the Blazing Sword and smirked. This was officially the best battle of their lives.


	14. The White Paladin

Upon the Castle of Lions’ arrival to planet Pollux, Avok had finally recovered from… whatever madness the Galra had sicced upon him. Ever since he woke up, he’d hardly said two words to anyone, not even to his own flesh and blood. Sven and the Paladins escorted the royal siblings inside with Avok rolling up in a wheelchair as not to aggravate his injuries and Sven helping Romelle with her now-bandaged leg. Upon the opening of the doors of the Royal Palace of Pollux, they were quickly greeted by a younger Altean boy with brown hair and teal eyes.

“Romelle! Avok! Thank the Ancients, I’m so glad you’re okay.” He quickly gripped his two siblings in a hug, which unfortunately caused them some minor stinging pain.

“Oh! Good to see you as well, Bandor.” Romelle groaned.

“Ooh, uh heh-heh, sorry sister.” Bandor quickly backed away from his older sister with a sorry look on his face. “Well uh, I must say Mother and Father have been very worried about you.”

“As one could expect from one’s parents, Bandor.” Allura smiled. “Speaking of whom, let’s not keep them waiting any longer.” With that, the group walked into the throne room to find Coba and his wife Queen Orla; a blonde woman with brown eyes who was more than happy to see her children again.

“My dear babies…” She was practically on the verge of tears.

Keith stepped forward and removed his helmet, bowing. “Your Highness.”

“No need to bow, Paladin Keith.” Coba waved his hand at the soldier, prompting him to rise. “You have saved my children _and_ the Galactic Coalition, not to mention the fact that you are dear friends of my beloved niece. You are welcome in our home whenever you require a respite from your duty as Defenders of the Universe.”

“Thank you, Uncle, for your hospitality.” Allura bowed.

“It’s the least we can do after all you’ve done for our family, Allura.” Orla smiled.

“Now tell me; I’ve heard reports that one of you saved my daughter from her captors single-handedly. Which one was it?” Coba’s voice took on a serious tone.

“That’d be Sven here, your highness.” Keith pointed to the new wielder of the White Bayard. “Whom we’ve recently learned is actually half-Crydorian.”

“Really? Very interesting.” The king smiled. “Well then, if it is not too much to ask of you, my queen and I wish to speak with him personally, as well as Romelle and Avok.”

“Of course, Uncle.” Allura bowed and exited the throne room along with Bandor the other Paladins.

Once they were gone, Coba turned to his eldest child. “Prince Avok, you allowed yourself to be manipulated by the Galra fleet and nearly destroyed the great Voltron. But since your motivation was to rescue your sister, I can respect it. However, as your father and as king, I am afraid I must hand down a punishment.”

“Father, you yourself said his lapse in judgment was justified since it was for me,” Romelle argued. “How can you punish him for something you have judged to be just?”

“It’s fine Romelle, I welcome it. But before you _do_ hand down judgment Father, I must say something.” Avok said with a simple straight face.

“And that is?”

Avok took a deep breath through his mouth before he looked back at his father with a stern look in his eye. “As of this hour, I hereby step down as heir to your throne and pass the honor to my sister, Princess Romelle.”

“What? Avok, you can’t do this!” Romelle seemed very concerned. “You’ve been training to be king since you were born. I’ve barely had ten minutes of teachings for the title of queen.”

“I’m afraid that’s where you’re wrong, my dear daughter.” Orla smiled at her. “Your training has been disguised as simple everyday matters, though you _have_ still received it. You are more than prepared to be queen.”

“And if you truly wish to step down as my heir, Avok, then far be it from me to stand in your way.” Coba relented to his son. “I accept your resignation.”

“Thank you, Father.” Avok then looked to Sven. “And as for you, Cadet…?”

“Holgersson.”

“Holgersson it is then.” Avok smiled. “If you should ever find yourself in a duel with Prince Lotor, I ask only one thing of you.”

“Win?” Sven smirked.

Avok smiled at the warrior. “Exactly.” He turned to face his father again. “Will that be all, Father?”

“Indeed, my son. Well, aside from a meeting with the royal physicians to determine if there is anything wrong with you that the humans haven’t been able to figure out. You are dismissed.”

“Yes, father.” He simply started the wheelchair rolling away. “By the way Sven, I’ll have a courier ship bring this chair back to you once I no longer have use of it.”

“No need Avok, your family can keep it as long as you need it. Consider it a gift.”

“Very well. Thank you.” Avok rolled off into the castle elevator and was sent up to his chambers.

“Princess Romelle,” Coba said seriously. “Following your brother’s relinquishment of his title of heir, I hereby pass it down.”

“I humbly accept Father. Thank you.” Romelle bowed in respect.

“Cadet Holgersson?” Sven stepped forward and saluted at the queen’s asking him forward.

“Yes, ma’am.” He noticed the royal family was looking at him in a confused manner, which confused him as well until he saw that he was saluting and quickly dropped his hand. “Uh, sorry. Force of habit. I kinda prefer the military life.”

“Completely understood, Sven,” Orla reassured him. “May we call you Sven?”

“Of course, ma’am. I prefer it.”

“Excellent. Now if I may, I must ask you something.”

Sven’s face simply fell to neutrality. “Lance called ahead to you so you would ask if I loved Romelle, didn’t he?”

Orla smiled. “I can neither confirm nor deny.”

“ _We are going to have words, McClain._ ” Sven thought angrily. A quick breath to steel his nerves for the impending judgment and/or family glomp and he stared ahead at the king and queen. “Well, I know one thing I can’t deny.” He glanced over at Romelle, who was clearly turning bright red. “And I’m sure she feels the same.”

Coba smiled at his wife and then at Sven, his eyes wandering on the white Bayard for a minute. “Well then… Cadet Sven Holgersson, if you should wish to court my daughter and heir, then in accordance with Altean customs, as her primary guardians, we grant you our deepest blessing.”

Sven smiled; Altean customs may have been complicated from what he’d heard, but in times like these, he could hardly argue with them. “I humbly accept. Thank you, your majesty.”

Romelle was still blushing bright red, but it was about to get worse as she had a request of her own. “If we are all agreed on this matter, Father, then I must ask something of you myself.”

“Namely?” Coba raised an eyebrow, surprised by his daughter’s behavior.

Romelle nearly couldn’t say anything but after a quick breath to steel her nerves, she looked to her father with an unfamiliar conviction in her eyes. “I wish to journey with Sven and the other Paladins!” Everyone was surprised at this, but apparently, Romelle wasn’t done. “Countless beings across the universe are being treated just as bad as I was while in the grip of the Galra, maybe worse. I wish to help them, and if that means I must do battle then I accept it.”

King Coba was surprised but smiled happily as he stood from his throne and placed a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “My dear, you truly do have the blood of Altea flowing within your veins. Our people can never turn away from those in need, and that is exactly what you refuse to do by making this request. Which I wholeheartedly grant.”

Romelle smiled, tears nearly coming to her eyes. “Thank you, Father.”

“We’ll keep a close watch on her to make sure she comes home alive, your majesty.” Sven saluted.

“Thank you, Paladin Sven.” Sven was confused about this comment from Coba, but he decided to roll with it. “Now if you’ll allow me to grant you a second gift, I have something here that was given to me by a dear friend of my brother, Alfor.” He pressed a button on the arm of his throne and a panel in the wall nearby opened, to reveal another suit of Paladin armor, this one with gold trim around the white accents, much like the Bayard. Sven and Romelle were in awe. “This armor once belonged to Storix, chieftain of the Crydorian people; many of whom, as you may know, now live in a colony on Saturn’s moon of Titan.” He turned to Sven with a smile. “I have no doubt that the great chief would welcome you to take up his armor as you have with his Bayard.”

Sven smiled. “I agree. I’ll take it.” With that, he stepped into the armor closet and activated the automated armoring systems. His superfluous over-clothes were removed and placed in a small vacuum-packed bag and a tight dark-gray bodysuit locked over his main clothes. Once it was on, the white plates locked onto the bodysuit and delivered the vacuum-pack bag out a small chute into a bag. Once done, the door opened and Sven walked out to see King Coba standing outside the chamber with the helmet in hand.

Sven bounced on his toes for a second. “It’s a… it’s a little lighter than I expected it to be.”

“Storix said the exact same thing.” Coba smiled as he placed the helmet on the Paladin’s head and handed him the face-plate. “How does it feel?”

Sven smiled as he locked the faceplate onto the helmet. “Like I was born to wear it, your highness.” With that, he quickly cycled his helmet’s respirator panel over his lower face, polarized his visor for a darkness effect and drew his Bayard in melee mode, swinging the ax to rest on his shoulder and deploying his plasma shield on the other arm.

“He cleans up alright.” That impressed voice surprised everyone as they looked to the doors to see them open a crack and Lance, Bandor and the other Paladins inside, looking Sven over.

“What’re you guys doing in here?” The new White Paladin asked, deactivating the respirator and depolarizing his visor.

“I was just about to ask the same thing. This was supposed to be a private meeting.” Coba was apparently angry.

“Yeah we know, but one mention of calling Sven a Paladin and I just _had_ to get in on this,” Lance smirked as he looked at his old friend.

“And the rest of you…?”

“Ugh. Acquiesced.” Pidge relented to Sven's question. “You know how Lance can be when he has his mind made up.”

“Meaning what, exactly?” Lance said angrily.

“Meaning we remember that pool thing with Wolo and Cliff.” Keith raised an eyebrow at his right-hand man.

“Jesus God, how long are you guys gonna throw that in my face?”

“Probably at least through the weekend.” Hunk smirked.

“Are they always like this?” Coba asked.

“Trust me, this isn’t even the worst of it. Just be thankful Lance hasn’t pulled a Cliff on anyone else yet.” Sven smiled knowingly.

“What happened with this Cliff character?” Lance chuckled at Romelle’s question, clearly aching to answer that question.

“Oho my god, it was awesome; okay so two years ago…” The others groaned at this.

“Goddammit man!” Hunk scowled.

“What? She asked.”

“Although now I’m starting to regret doing so,” Romelle said candidly.

“Good. Means you’re smart.” Keith said seriously. “Also, we can save story-time for next time we’re here Lance, because in case you forgot we’ve got a war to win.”

“Exactly, and Romelle is coming with us,” Sven said happily.

“See? So- Wait, what?” Lance asked confused.

“Yeah, what?” Pidge asked.

“Oh, you guys didn’t hear that part?” asked Sven. “Okay, so first of all Romelle is now the heir to the throne of Pollux because Avok stepped down, I have her parents’ blessing to date her if I want to, which thanks for spillin’ _that_ part Lance-”

“You’re welcome.”

“I was being sarcastic.” Sven scowled. “And as it turns out, she wants to come with us and join us at the front.”

“Oh. Well, I’m always down for some extra hands.” Keith smiled and extended his hand to her. “Welcome aboard, Princess Romelle.”

“Thank you, Keith.” She smiled as she accepted his handshake. “Just give me a few minutes to pack and I’ll be right with you.”

“Take your time. Galra aren’t goin’ anywhere,” said Keith. The promised few minutes later and Romelle returned to outside the Castle of Lions with two packed bags and…

“Is that a medkit?” asked Hunk. “You have a medical license?”

“Of course. Just because I’m royalty doesn’t mean politics is all I’m good for.” Romelle smiled. “After all, just look at Allura.”

“Touché.” Hunk smiled.

“Alright, enough lollygagging. I think it’s time we get back to the war and hear about that white Bayard.” Keith ordered. “All hands aboard ship.” The crew didn’t need a second order as everyone quickly boarded and the Castle of Lions quickly flew off back into space. Romelle and Sven saw Avok on his balcony and waved to him, which he kindly returned but for some reason, he had a strange headache once they left. The cause of which would soon show himself to the Paladins, whether they wanted it to or not.


	15. The Legend of the Paladins

“Your Highness, I think it’s about time we heard about that Bayard Sven got his hands on.” Keith’s question was one which the whole crew of the castle, including the new medic Romelle, wanted to hear an answer to.

Alfor’s hologram took a deep breath as he remembered what happened. “It’s a bit of a long story. Perhaps it would work best with visuals.” Thankfully at that comment, a barrage of holographic images of some of the king’s memories. “We’d best start at the beginning, before Voltron was ever born.” With that, he moved one screen up to the main monitor and began to tell the story.

“150 Earth years ago… I was barely older than you, my dear Allura, just a simple prince. In those days, the Order of the Paladins was simply a collection of leaders and warriors who despite coming from cultures vastly divergent from each other, and in some cases, had been at war for generations, managed to look past those differences in an effort to protect their common interests. Initially, it was a simple formal agreement to work alongside each other, but over time it soon blossomed into a true friendship. A family, even, with a warrior’s bond made stronger by the Bayards I built for each of us, and together myself and the other four founding Paladins used them to rid our galaxy of all those who would do it harm.” Suddenly the screen jumped to a flashback of a young Alfor wearing the red Paladin Armor charging into a cave of what looked like Lambonite pirates. The door to the cave sealed and the pirates stood ready to defend it should it fall, but then Alfor suddenly fell from the ceiling, drop-kicking one of the pirates in the face before standing with an Altean broadsword in one hand and a shield on his opposite arm.

Then his eyes popped as he looked around and realized his situation; completely surrounded with blasters pointed at every part of him. “Oh dear.” The pirates charged at the young prince, but he defended himself as best he could, striking several among them down. But he was eventually overwhelmed and nearly killed before a large Galra warrior in the black Paladin Armor charged forward with a mace and bashed away almost all of them, along with a male Nalquadian in the blue Armor wielding twin swords, a male Rygnarathan in the yellow with large high-impact gauntlets and a female Dalterion in the green with a spear.

Soon all the enemies had been defeated and the Galra looked at a holographic readout in his helmet. “Looks like I win again, my friends.”

“Are you kidding me?” The Nalquadian rolled his eyes. “You barely took down any of them.”

“Uh hello? Rescue points? Mine may be a society of warriors, but we _do_ care about other life.” The Galra smiled. “Computer. End simulation.” At this command, the cave and pirates disappeared to reveal the whole thing was simply a holographic simulation. Then he smiled at Alfor on the ground. “I keep warning you not to break formation and run ahead, _your highness_. You’re much better as a strategist than as a soldier.” He extended a clawed hand to his fellow, which he graciously accepted as he was pulled up.

“Well, that’s what I keep you lot around for, old boy.” Alfor smiled as he patted his large purple friend on the shoulder. “Congratulations on the victory, Zarkon.”

“WHAT?!? Whoa, whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa, hold the hot sauce!” Lance said in shock. “You were _friends_ with Emperor Zarkon?”

Alfor chuckled. “Back in those days, he was simply known as _Lieutenant_ Zarkon, a low-ranking but highly-respected soldier in the Galra military's then budding Ultra Black Corps. And he was my best friend.” Back in the projection, the Paladins were exiting their holo-projection chamber out into a glen on Altea when Alfor’s eye caught onto a young Altean woman walking by with a basket of flowers in her hands.

“Is that-?” Allura’s question was answered by a cute chuckle from Melenor.

“Yes, my dear. That was me.” In the memory, Alfor blushed and watched after her longingly. Until the Nalquadian bumped him on the shoulder.

“Don’t just stand there, Alfor. Say something to her.”

“Alright, alright. Don’t rush me.” Alfor quickly moved to try and catch up with Melenor, but she was gone before he could say anything so he simply fell onto his back in the grass groaning, prompting the Dalterion to come over and chuckle.

“How is it that you can be next in line for your planet’s throne, but don’t have the guts to talk to a woman of your own species?” She asked, pulling blades of grass out of the nearby ground and sprinkling them on his face.

“Not helping, Trigel.” The young prince groaned as the grass covered his face.

Allura and Romelle giggled. “Was he really that awkward, Auntie?”

“Worse.” Melenor smiled. “And that’s why I loved him; every king has faults.”

“Well, love is hard when one is young.” Alfor shrugged.

“Pfft. Yeah, I hear that.” Lance smiled. “My ex Emily can vouch for it.”

“Don’t worry, my boy. It gets easier.” Alfor smiled. “Now I suppose I should introduce the other Founding Paladins; that’s Senator Trigel Rikana of Dalter, Chief Gyrgan of Rygnarath and Admiral Blaytz of Nalquad. Now then, I believe we have a party to get to.” With that, he quickly switched the memory projection to a large party on planet Korrinoth, as indicated by the location marker in the upper right-hand corner of the feed.

“Whoa. Whose party is it?” Hunk smiled.

“Zarkon will readily deny this nowadays, but he and I actually shared many things other than the title of Paladin. Including a birthday, which we always celebrated together.” Alfor smiled, looking at the memories of being surrounded by his old friends. “Although this year, Zarkon was a bit late. But for a good reason.” This reason was illustrated by Zarkon then walking up toward Alfor with a broad smile on his face.

“Ah Zarkon, there you are.” Blaytz smiled, waving a chalice of wine in his hand. “Come, pull up a bench and join in _your_ party.”

“I assume Captain Zandu held you back with intense drills at the training camp?” Alfor smiled.

“Quite the opposite, in fact, old friend. _I_ ran _him_ ragged.” This statement confused most, but Zarkon smiled as he turned to the crowd. “Let it be known to my people and my great friends that as of now, I have officially passed the ancient trial that is the Kraal Zera and claimed the Imperial Throne of the Galra!”

This surprised the other Paladins, but Alfor smiled as he approached his old friend. “Then today, we shall honor not just our shared progression of life, but your great achievement as well, _Emperor_ Zarkon.” With that, he kneeled before his old friend in respect, as did many others.

Then suddenly, a guard heard something in his com-unit and his face twisted in fear. “My lord!” he yelled as he ran up.

“What is it, Commander Rakshan?” Zarkon asked.

“The Atmospheric Defense Fleet has reported a massive asteroid headed toward the planet! Its trajectory indicates that it will make impact just outside the city!” The commander reported.

“What? I thought all the asteroids near Korrinoth were locked in a gravity field.” Trigel remembered.

“They are, Senator. This one has come from far outside our galaxy and it’s approaching the planet at an alarming speed.” The commander reported.

“Order an immediate evacuation of all the villages near the impact site!” Zarkon ordered.

Alfor looked to the sky in concern. “I think it’s a bit too late for that, old friend. There it is!” And indeed the massive asteroid was rocketing down toward the planet.

“By Willow,” Gyrgan said in awe and fear. “Everyone take cover!” Quickly they listened, fortuitously landing Alfor right next to Melenor just as the meteor landed, causing a massive impact and a large dust-cloud to spread across the surface of the planet.

“We could’ve never known, that on that very night, the fate of the whole universe would be changed forever.” Alfor took on a serious tone as the hologram soon shifted to the meteor and the large particle barrier surrounding it just to be safe.

“What have you discovered, Alfor?” Zarkon asked the new young king inside the laboratory near the crater.

“Well… we’re still not sure, to be honest.” Alfor was looking over a fragment of the meteor he had carved off. “This material is like none seen before, never mind the radiation from the crater. It seems to have incredible conductive properties, better even than Altea's ionized eluvium energy conduits, and the technology that went into creating _those_ was incredibly advanced. Not only that but… we’ve detected what appear to be brainwaves coming from the material.”

“How is that possible?”

“Well that’s just it; it _shouldn’t_ be.” Alfor picked the shard up and tossed it up and down. “But perhaps… perhaps it is a gift from the Ancients of Oriande.”

“The legendary kingdom of alchemists?” Zarkon raised an eyebrow. “I have a hard time believing that, Alfor.”

“I don’t blame you; Oriande has long been thought to be nothing more than ancient Altean folklore, but I must admit this does seem very similar to a certain strange prophesy I found a few years ago;" The king gave a small smile as he remembered his old days wandering the Altea System on archeological expeditions before he took his place as his father's heir. "I believe it said ‘The Defenders will fall from the sky and with aid from the primitives, they will bring with them the gift of eternal peace from the land of Oriande for all life in the galaxy’.”

“And what exactly are these Defenders?” Suddenly Zarkon felt something brush past his foot. He looked down and saw a strange black space-cat. “GAH! What is that?!” The space-cat meowed happily at the emperor before someone walked over with a smile on their face.

“Oh, so that’s where you got to, eh Kova?” The young Altean woman picked the cat up and allowed it to curl up on her shoulder. She had shining gold eyes and bright gray hair and had small red markings under her eyes. “Sorry about him, Emperor Zarkon. Kova tends to get around.”

“Ah yes, I almost forgot.” Alfor smiled. “Zarkon, this is Honerva; the best scientific mind in the Altea System. I thought it might be best for her to come and perform some on-site research.”

Zarkon seemed to be blushing a bit, but he quickly regained his composure as he saw someone else come in. “Well, I suppose I may as well introduce someone to you in return, Alfor.” It was a young, beautiful Drule woman with seemingly tribal robes. “This is Raggah Yoba, the Drule’s leading expert on the, uh… unexplainable.”

Honerva chuckled. “Well, I’m sure she’ll fit right in for this project.”

“I’m sure I will,” Raggah smiled as she walked down. “I must admit this is quite exciting. If we yield positive results here, it could change the way we understand the function of the whole universe.”

“Find out everything and anything you can, Ragga. I will provide support wherever needed.” Zarkon said, trying to hide his blush. “Excuse me.” With that, he left the lab, leaving some confused faces behind.

“Well, _he_ didn’t stick around long,” Honerva remarked.

Alfor chuckled. “I’d know that look anywhere. But I think I’ll allow you two-" Then he remembered Kova. "er, three- to worry about that. And your work.” He walked away as well. “If you’ll excuse me, ladies. I _do_ have a star system to govern.”

“Of course, my king.” Honerva gave a courteous bow.

“After that, I took the rest of the asteroid, the material of which I eventually dubbed Voltonium, back to Altea where I began to run experiments on it while Honerva and Raggah continued their research of the radiation of the crater.” Alfor retold. “But time brings new arrivals and eventually I had to forge hundreds more Bayards for our new fellow Paladins, including Chieftain Storix. And I visited Korrinoth often as the years passed, eventually even bringing my marriage to my best friend’s door. One of the best decisions I made in all my life.”

“I hope you’ll accept this, Alfor.” Zarkon had a servant bring forth a small infant-sized hat with the Paladins’ coat of arms on it. “I know it isn’t much, but it’s all we could think of. Besides, you may require it soon.”

Alfor smiled warmly. “Honerva has really softened you up, old friend. I never thought I’d see the age the great warrior Zarkon the Mighty was with an heir. From an Altean scientist, no less.”

“Well, anything can happen, Alfor. Take Blaytz for example. Losing an eye to a _weblum_ , of all creatures?” The two Paladins laughed at that, though their now-bionic Nalquadian compatriot didn’t find it all that funny.

“It’s hardly the worst extremity one can lose in a situation like that, Zarkon.” He argued, scratching at his bionic eye. “Although I must admit, I owe you for the eye.”

“Ah, think nothing of it, old friend. Consider it a gift.” Eventually, the founding Paladins found their way to the dinner table to indeed see Honerva, a half-breed infant whom the Paladins could only assume was Lotor and a rather disheveled Raggah at the banquet. Ragga had a rather unusual glass containment capsule with her, with some sort of entity inside it.

“What is that?” Alfor asked in awe.

“I’m not sure,” Raggah answered candidly. “It just popped out of the ground in the crater a few weeks ago. We’re still not sure what it is, but it seemed to be feeding on the radiation at the site.”

“Fascinating,” Alfor remarked. “But why did you remove it from the site? It could be dangerous to remove it from what are essentially its feeding grounds.”

Honerva chuckled. “While I agree with you, my king, I must bring up a point. Ancient Alteans believed lightning was fired from the bows of the gods until science proved otherwise. If we do not press on into dangerous territory, how could we possibly discover anything new?”

Alfor relented slightly. “You raise an excellent point, Honerva. But still…” Suddenly, the creature reacted… dangerously, bouncing around the glass walls of the capsule like a pinball. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know! It must be reacting to something!” Raggah was right; finally the being shot out of the capsule like a bullet, straight to the crater which suddenly exploded outward with more of the strange beings, which quickly formed into some sort of massive beast.

“Once that… whatever it was emerged, I erected a particle barrier around it to contain it.” Alfor remembered. “But I knew it would never last long. So it was time I unveiled my greatest creation.”

The hologram quickly showed the Founding Paladins wearing their armor in an elevator on Altea along with Honerva, Ragga and a few other robed Drule and five representatives of the species local to a nearby Balmera. “I pray this plan of yours will work, Alfor.”

“Don’t worry, old friend. It will.” Alfor smiled. “Provided your druids are up to the task, Raggah.”

“Always. But I must ask, what is this ‘task’ you wish for us to complete?”

Alfor smiled. “You have brought small entities to life before, have you not?”

“Indeed. Why?” Suddenly the elevator passed to an open area, revealing the large sleeping form of Voltron, leaving everyone in a state of awe.

“By Willow…” That was all Gyrgan could say.

“Well… how would you feel about using that power on something a bit… bigger?” Finally, the elevator stopped and the Paladins boarded a hover-platform to inspect the large being.

“This is incredible, Alfor. Tell us, what is it?” Zarkon asked.

“One of the Defenders from the prophesy.” Alfor smiled. “The brainwaves from the Voltonium? I connected with them, and they told me exactly how to turn the material into the form you now see before you which, if my theory is correct, should provide it with an endless supply of power and its own consciousness, not to mention nigh indestructibility.” Then he smiled. “The color-scheme was my own touch, to make the great warrior seem more… hospitable.”

“What sort of weapons does he have?” Alfor laughed at his Nalquadian friend’s question.

“Of course _that’s_ your first question, Blaytz.” Trigel smacked her old friend on the shoulder, chuckling herself.

“Cmon, it’s a fair one. What’s _your_ first question?”

“Well if you must know, it’s ‘if this being is supposed to have infinite power, then why isn’t he online yet’?”

“That confused me as well. It appears he requires an infusion of life-force from already living beings to be awoken.” Alfor explained. “The so-called ‘aid from the primitives’ the prophesy called for. That is where we, the Balmerans and the Druids come in.”

“You wish to infuse our life-force into this great warrior?” Gyrgan asked. “Well you know I’m willing to do it.”

“I’m in too.” Blaytz smiled.

“As am I.” Trigel grinned.

“Thank you. But this may take some time.” Alfor said realistically.

“Time is a luxury we cannot afford right now, Alfor.” Zarkon reminded. “Any minute now, my people may be slaughtered by a dark creature of unnatural origin and this machine may be their only hope for survival.”

“Very well then.” Alfor stepped off next to Voltron’s right arm. “If everyone will step to the body-part matching their armor’s color-scheme, we can begin.” The other Paladins quickly did so. “Honerva, keep an eye on our bio-rhythms; make sure our levels don’t drop too long.”

“Understood, my king,” Honerva reported.

“Raggah, Balmerans…” Alfor and the Paladins each placed their hands on Voltron’s body. “Let us begin.”

“With haste, Alfor.” With that, Raggah, the druids, and the Balmerans all dropped to the floor and placed their hands on it, allowing their energy to flow from their bodies to the great Voltron. It indeed took some time and a lot of energy, nearly more than the Paladins believed they could give, but finally, all those who participated in the ritual fell to the ground.

“Did- Did it work?” Blaytz’s question was suddenly answered when the large warrior’s eyes flashed yellow and its hands suddenly balled into fists.

“Yeah, I think so,” Alfor said quickly as everyone moved back and the great warrior rose to its feet.

“ **I am Voltron, Spirit Warrior of the Lion! Defender of the Universe!** ” it roared in a male voice. “ **Why have you summoned me?** ”

Zarkon quickly stepped forward. “I am Zarkon, Emperor of the Galra! My home-planet Korrinoth is about to be destroyed by an unnatural monster! I beg of you Voltron, that you save my people!”

“ **I accept this mission!** ” Voltron suddenly lowered his wings, apparently ready to fly away.

“Whoa, hang on!” Blaytz called. “Would you mind giving us a ride there? I would like to see what you’re capable of.”

“As would I, Voltron.” Alfor agreed candidly.

“ **Very well.** ” Voltron relented as he lowered his hand and picked the Paladins up, as well as Romelle and Ragga, the latter of whom had fallen unconscious and placed them inside his chest cavity. Once everyone was secure, Voltron took off at massive speeds, flying straight to Korrinoth at nearly three times the speed of light.

And just in time as the monster from the crater had broken the barrier and taken on a vaguely humanoid shape… before focusing on the sentry-droids on the ground.

“ _Sentries, open fire!_ ” the commander yelled into the coms from his ship. The sentries tried their best, but the monster was barely even _fazed_ by the blasts, whereas _its_ blast obliterated the whole battalion. Lotor’s governess was on the castle balcony with Melenor and Zarkon’s young prince, watching the whole thing until Voltron landed in front of the balcony and allowed the Paladins and their guests to exit.

“ **Watch over them,** ” Voltron ordered as he turned. “ **I will destroy this menace myself.** ” With that, Voltron shot to the enemy and engaged in a strong hand-to-hand match with it.

“Alfor…?” Melenor asked in awe and confusion.

“It’s a long story, my love, but for now, what say we just sit back and watch the fireworks?” Alfor smiled as Voltron struck the monster to the ground with one strong right hook, but it swirled fluidly back to its feet like the strike didn’t even happen.

“Okay, that’s just nasty,” Blaytz remarked.

“ **Strategy deemed unviable,** ” Voltron growled as the beast bashed him away. “ **Moving to secondary strategy. Form Blazing Sword!!!** ” It bashed its hands together and formed the great blade Keith would soon give it. The Paladins were all amazed as the great warrior slashed the monster apart, causing a massive explosion. “ **Enemy destroyed.** ”

“This is incredible,” Zarkon said in awe. “A magnificent display of power, Voltron! You truly deserve your title as Defender!”

“ **Thank you, Emperor Zarkon,** ” Voltron replied. “ **But I do not possess the title for myself. I share it with my brother, V-15 who have yet to join me here.** ”

That made Zarkon wonder. “Alfor, how many Defenders did the prophesy speak of?”

“Only two. They must be Voltron and this V-15.”

“Then we must find the V-15 meteor as soon as possible.” Zarkon asserted.

“That was the last comment Zarkon ever made that I ever agreed with.” Alfor grew sullen as he watched his memories roll by. “His motives were pure to start, but in time the aftermath of Voltron’s awakening made itself known; Raggah became hideous and devoted herself to finding some sort of way to regain her beauty. Zarkon grew even more driven to find this new meteor and secure the second Defender, to the point of neglecting his own son and his mother. But then… a strange radiation from the creature Voltron slew infected them both, poisoning their minds. After it did, Raggah embraced her new hideous appearance and changed her name to Haggar. But Zarkon… he fell the furthest; he lost sight of the Paladin Code's primary rule to protect the universe and began plans to conquer it, forcing me to strip him of his armor and Bayard. Unfortunately, all this did was make him _livid_ and he accelerated his plans to conquer the universe. Voltron did his best to stop him at every turn and won most of the time… until the final battle, where Haggar separated Voltron after he had defeated Zarkon. Once Voltron was broken, the Lions found their way home to this castle and the rest of us Paladins all went our separate ways. And then… well… the rest is history.” With that, the holograms went down and back into the king’s head.

“Whoa.” That was all Hunk could manage.

“Whew okay, that was- that was a lot to take in.” Lance gripped his head to try and wrap it around this whole matter.

“I remember that hat,” Allura remembered. “I still have it. You said Admiral Blaytz gave it to you.”

“We didn’t want you to know the story until you were old enough, my dear.” Melenor placed her holographic hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “But I see now we have little choice.”

“I- I think I need to go lie down.” Allura quickly moved but found her legs weak from the news. She nearly fell to the floor, but Keith quickly zipped over and caught her.

“I gotcha.”

“Thank you. W-Would you mind taking me to my quarters?” Allura blushed.

Keith blushed as well but did his best to hide it. “Uh, s-sure. I’m just, uh- I’m just gonna hit the training deck later anyway.” With that, he carried the princess to her room.

It was clear to Alfor and Melenor that this story was a hard one to swallow, but they knew it needed to be said. But one question lingered in Alfor’s mind; “ _Was it right to be said **then**?_”


	16. Coping

When faced with a stressful situation, humanoid species have many ways to deal with it as the Paladins of Voltron prove; those like Keith and Lance indulge in physical activity, those like Pidge and Sven work, those like Allura and Romelle rest and those like Hunk eat.

Unfortunately, Allura could barely get any rest knowing that her now mortal enemy in this war once held Keith’s title as the Black Paladin. She tried over and over again in the night to get to sleep but kept having nightmares of Zarkon seizing control of Voltron from Keith when they finally went up against the conquering warlord. Finally, she got fed up with these maddening dreams and simply decided to head down to the training deck with her fellows. She arrived just in time to see Lance suddenly blast the head off of one of the training droids with his rifle, which now had some sort of long-barrel and a sniper scope.

“Boosh! Heh. Toldja I could make that shot.” he gloated.

Keith chuckled. “Alright hotshot, you win.” He was just handing over a few credits when he suddenly glanced to the door and saw the princess. “Oh. Allura, hey. I thought you were sleeping?”

“I was. But… my nightmares…”

“Say no more.” Keith smiled in understanding. “After your father’s story, I think we all need some time to adapt.”

Lance scoffed. “Yeah. ‘Adapt’ is the word there.”

“Hey Lance, cmon.” Keith groaned at his right-hand, not in the mood for this sort of attitude right now.

“What? Face it dude; our worst enemy used to wear your armor.” Lance shrugged, shouldering his rifle and aiming it downrange. “Nothing can change that, not even Voltron.”

“Well, the key-term there is ‘used to’, Lance.” Keith grabbed the barrel of Lance’s Bayard and pointed it down. “He had the title of Black Paladin and lost it on his own terms. I’ve taken over for him.” He activated his Bayard’s sword-mode and walked downrange to the next training droid, who was moving toward him with a training staff. “And I swear that no matter how long it takes, I am going to cleanse the universe of his sins and _earn_ the right to wear his armor.” He suddenly and brutally drove his sword straight through the training droid’s midsection before giving it a quick spin and grabbing the blade on the other side before ripping it out through the droid’s back, sending the dead droid to the ground. “Even if it kills me.”

Lance was concerned about his friend as he walked over. “Be careful what you wish for, bro. It might end up coming true.”

“Whatever. You can hardly argue with my reasoning, right?”

“Sure, but I’m just saying; things _could_ go south.” Then Lance heard something that sounded like small skittery paws on metal. “Uh, are you guys hearing that?”

“Hearing what?” Keith asked, confused.

“Not sure.” Lance moved to the princess. “Allura, the Galra wouldn’t happen to have little reconnaissance spider-drones, would they?”

“Not that I know of, no.” Allura was confused by Lance’s question as well until she heard the skittering as well. It was coming from the air-vents up above. She smiled as she heard it. “Alright you lot, you’ve had your fun.” Lance and Keith were confused what she meant by that until Lance saw something on the ground and jumped.

“AAH! Space mice!” This little interaction, coupled with the fact that the newly arrived quartet of space mice sent Lance falling to his butt, made Keith laugh.

“Dude, seriously? Y-You’re afraid of mice?”

“Do you know nothing of ancient Earthling history?! Rodents bring only disease and famine!” Suddenly Lance’s “justification” of his fear of rodents was interrupted by one of the mice (the lean blue one with the red eyes, to be specific) biting his foot. “OW!”

“Plachu!” Allura scolded and the mouse let go, quickly joining the other three.

“You named these guys?” Keith smiled.

“Well, not _me_. My father did.” Allura grinned back. “He must’ve brought them with him when he came to meet us on Arus.”

“Huh. Well, who knows? They may come in handy at some point.” Keith’s optimism was only increased when the mice suddenly began showing off some karate moves for the Black Paladin. He laughed as he turned to his right hand. “Lance cmon, even you’ve got to admit that this is freakin’ adorable.”

Lance stood slowly, hand still clutched onto his Bayard. “I will concede that. However, I still refuse to touch anything _they_ have touched.”

“Why?” Allura’s question was answered by Lance shouldering his rifle and aiming it back downrange, allowing it to shift back into the new sniper rifle mode he had unlocked earlier.

“ _MythBusters_ , episode 135; ‘Hidden Nasties’,” he answered simply. “Watch it, and you’ll understand.”

“Dude, that episode’s like 42 years old,” Keith said realistically.

“And yet still so true and disgusting.” Then Lance smiled. “Although I must admit, that whole car-skipping-a-lake thing; _that_ was awesome.”

“Right?” Suddenly Keith saw something duck behind a corner in the back of the training deck; something that looked like a humanoid wearing black armored robes. Confused, he walked away from the other two toward this shape.

“Something wrong, Keith?” Lance asked, genuinely concerned.

“Maybe. Call me paranoid, but I think we’ve been infiltrated.”

“Shall I have Coran put the ship on alert?” Allura asked.

“Not yet, at least have him run a BLIP scan; see if he can find any bio-rhythms that don’t belong. I’m gonna go see about confirming my hunch.” With that, Keith moved downrange around the corner he saw the form slip behind, but he couldn’t find anything.

He looked around for a second, Bayard ready in hand in case he needed it until someone behind him suddenly knocked it out of his hands, before grabbing him by the mouth and holding a large black and purple blade to his neck. “ _Try anything and you die._ ” Whoever this person was, they had a voice modulator. And tough armor. “ _Nod if you understand._ ”

Keith didn’t have much choice so he simply gave a slow nod into his captor’s hand, prompting said captor to move said hand. “Who are you?” the Paladin asked quietly.

“ _Who I am is not of any importance at the moment, Black Paladin._ ” Yeah, Keith should’ve figured this guy wasn’t much of a talker. “ _All you need to know right now is that the Order of the Blades is willing to support you in your war against Zarkon._ ”

“‘Order of the Blades’?”

“ _The name of our brotherhood. That is all you need to know for now._ ” This cryptic shit was getting old. “ _We will wish to speak with you again soon. Until then, you are not to breathe a word of what I have said to you here. If you do, I will personally skin you alive. Clear?_ ”

“Crystal. But just so I know who _not_ to talk about specifically, how ‘bout a name?”

This dark being apparently lowered whatever mask they were wearing that had the modulator in it, as their voice became more clear as that of a man. “Ulaz.” Then without any more warning, this mysterious Ulaz disappeared into the shadows. Keith turned to try and see him, but he was really gone. With that in mind, Keith picked up his Bayard and walked back out to the others.

“Anything?” he asked Allura.

“No. All bio-rhythms are being generated from beings that belong here.” Allura reported. “What about you?”

Keith almost told them about this Ulaz guy, but the fear of being skinned alive kept him from doing so. “Nah, I was right; just being paranoid.” With that, he walked away. “I think that’s enough training for tonight. I’m heading to bed.”

“Alright, night man.” Lance smiled after him as the door closed. Then he looked at Allura. “So… first person to take down the most droids wins?”

Allura smiled. “You’re on.” Bayard-whip online. “In exchange for some information.”

“Name it.”

“Why did Pidge call you ‘Tailor’ when we first met?” Lance grimaced at that question; he _really_ didn’t want to have to live through that fiasco again.


	17. Resistance

Keith had just left the training deck, but he still couldn’t stop thinking about Ulaz. Or his blade: he had seen the symbol near the handle before he disappeared; it seemed to resemble a misshapen Japanese Hiragana “so” symbol, which he quickly drew on a digital pad projected from his gauntlet. He walked up to the bridge just in time to see Shiro, Coran, and Alfor going over the star-map along with the Admiral on the hologram-communicator.

“I’m not arguing Admiral, I’m just saying that if we liberate the Taujeer System first after we cross the border, we can gain a more secure foothold in enemy territory.” Shiro pointed out.

“ _And I’m saying that it would be easier to liberate an uninhabited planet like Nacxela; less concern about innocent locals getting caught in the crossfire._ ” Admiral Sanda rebuked.

Shiro was about to retort when… “I agree, Admiral.” Keith’s appearance surprised the group. “Uninhabited planets are easier to reconquer if we don’t need to worry about civilians.”

The Admiral smirked. “ _See Takashi? Even the Black Paladin of Voltron agrees with my reasoning._ ”

Shiro rolled his eyes. “Alright Ellen, don’t get _too_ full of yourself. We still need to get across the border before we can worry about establishing footholds.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem, Shiro.” Coran smiled as he twisted his mustache. “Especially not with Voltron.”

“That reminds me;” Keith realized. “King Alfor, you wouldn’t happen to have the emission spectrum of the asteroid you built Voltron from, would you?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.” Alfor quickly brought up the data. “Would this happen to be about V-15?”

“ _What’s V-15?_ ” The Admiral asked.

“A bit of a long story, Admiral Sanda,” Alfor replied. “One that would skew the legitimacy of this war. For now, I can simply say that Voltron is not the only Robotic Guardian the prophecy mentioned.”

“ _Understood._ ” The admiral nodded. “ _Let me know when you find it._ ”

“Roger that. Castle of Lions out.” Shiro replied and terminated the connection to Earth. Then he turned to give Keith a glare.

Keith shrugged. “What? She was right.” Finally, he got back to his reason for coming up. “Anyway, I was just… looking through the archives and I found this strange symbol.” He brought up the symbol and was surprised by the longing look on Alfor’s face.

“I haven’t seen that symbol in a long time.” he smiled.

“Do you know what it means?” Keith asked hopefully.

“Of course. It’s the Galran symbol for ‘liberty’.” Alfor remembered. “No Galra soldier has flown that symbol since Zarkon started his crusade to conquer the universe.” That confused Keith; if Ulaz was a Galra, why would he defect from Zarkon’s side?

He resolved that this question would have to wait for later and return to the matter of waging intergalactic war. “So, do we have any ideas on where in the border to start?”

“We’re working on that. I know Wolo and his fellows would be very appreciative if we liberated the Luxia System.” Shiro pondered.

“Oh man yeah, Krik, Cinda and Tagor. The guys and I haven’t talked to them since the _Explorer_ launched.” Keith smiled, remembering his team’s Luxian friends.

“Well, I suppose the best time to talk to them again would be on their planet after it’s been reconquered, eh?” Alfor smiled at the Black Paladin.

Keith smiled. “Alright, I guess we’re agreed. Coran?”

“Course laid in,” he reported. “Ready to go whenever you are.”

“Alright, hit it.” Keith walked to his seat and turned on the vid-com to the lab Pidge had set up in her Lion-Hangar to see her working on something. “Hey Pidge, you got a sec?”

“ _Sure. What’s up?_ ” Pidge looked up from her data.

“I’m sending you the emission spectrum for Voltonium. Think you can modulate the scanners to track it?” Keith quickly sent the data over.

“ _Received. I’m on it._ ” Pidge smiled as she hung up and set back to work. Meanwhile, the ship was realigning to jump to the Luxia System, which gave Keith time to think about Ulaz.

“ _If he **is** Galra, then maybe the rest of his brotherhood is too._” he thought. “ _But it doesn’t make any sense. Why would Galra defect from Zarkon?_ ” Finally, these thoughts drove him up from his seat. “King Alfor, can I talk to you for a second?”

“Of course.” The hologram smiled as he followed Keith off the bridge. “What is it you want to talk about?”

“I was just thinking.” Keith leaned against the wall. “Do you think there might be some sort of Galra resistance movement within the empire? Y’know, Galra who haven’t pledged to serve Zarkon?”

Alfor was confused by what brought this on but decided not to pry, instead shrugging and answering the question. “If there were, they would’ve been exterminated decades ago. Zarkon has no room in his empire for any resistance, especially not from his own species.”

“Then… what about the Drule? Maybe _they_ defected.”

Alfor just chuckled at that. “The Drule may be great warriors, but they’re just as greatly devoted to whoever has the best offer, even if it means genocide and conquering. As long as Zarkon is lining the pockets of his mercenaries with latinum, they don’t care what they have to do.”

Keith was admittedly distressed when he heard that. “Well just… theoretically, if there _were_ an inside resistance movement in the Galra Empire, do you think it would be worth siding with them?”

Alfor gave some thought to that. “I suppose so. If they were to have any high-ranking agents inside the army, then they could help us dismantle the entire empire. Theoretically speaking, of course.”

Keith gave a small imperceptible smirk. “Yeah. Theoretically.” Suddenly his helmet-com beeped. Keith checked and saw it was Pidge calling before he picked up. “Go ahead, Pidge.”

“ _I finished coding a program to detect the Voltonium,_ ” she reported. “ _Believe me; it wasn’t easy. First I had to write a patch to exclude Voltron itself, and then I had to make it compatible with the castle scanners which was a chore and a half. I almost had to ask my dad for help, but-_ ”

“Pidge. You’re rambling again.” Keith groaned; Pidge always had this habit of rambling about computer-science stuff, and sometimes it got really annoying.

“ _Huh? Oh! Sorry._ ” she apologized. “ _Anyway, either way, the second V-15 appears in Coalition Space, we should know where he is and where he’s coming from._ ”

“Good. Input the tracking protocol into the computer system.” Keith ordered. “We’re gonna need all eyes on the stars to make sure the Galra don’t get V-15 first, because if they do… well, I don’t wanna have to think about that.”

“ _Amen to that._ ” Pidge agreed. “ _Uploading now._ ” With that, the tracking system was embedded in the castle computer system, ready to sound the alert once V-15 made itself known.

“Alright, that’s all the bases covered.” Keith smiled as he and Alfor walked back onto the bridge. “Now we just need to worry about Luxia.”

“Well, we won’t have to worry about that for long.” Coran smiled. “We’re all aligned and ready to jump on your go, Shiro.”

“Alright. Activate the Teleduv.” With that, the ship suddenly shot across the galaxy ready to continue the war.


	18. Water World

The Castle reappeared just on the fringes of the Luxia System, where they quickly scanned the large oceanic planet closer to the star to find large Galra installations.

“Doesn’t exactly make much sense.” Keith shrugged. “Why would the Galra want an outpost on a planet like this?”

“Based on the information Wolo provided us before we left, Luxia is rich in minerals necessary to weapon construction.” Shiro checked the display to confirm this. “Not to mention that Luxians are incredibly hard-workers. Hardly as advanced as Alteans or Olkari, but they do what they can.” Suddenly Hunk saw something on his scanners.

“Uh guys, we’ve got a small transport coming up on our stern.” He watched the computer and recognized the signature. “Not Galra.”

“Hail them.” Shiro’s order was answered with something confusing.

“Looks like they beat us to the punch on that front.” Hunk smiled before turning to Alfor and Melenor. “You two might want to, uh…”

“Oh, of course.” The two royal holograms quickly moved to hide behind a door in the back of the bridge.

“Put it on the screen.” Shiro’s order was quickly followed, presenting a group of blue aliens; two slim males, one chunkier male, and one female, all wearing Coalition uniforms.

“ _Castle of Lions, this is First Lieutenant Shota Wolo Kreutz and his fellow Luxian lieutenants requesting permission to dock and come aboard._ ”  The crew was surprised to find these Luxians from the Garrison back at their home-planet so many years after it had been conquered.

“Captain Takashi Shirogane,” Shiro reported officially. “Report your reason for docking.”

“ _This is our homeworld and we heard it was first on your liberation list._ ” the female replied. “ _What more reason do we need to see our home returned to the people?_ ”

“A fair point, Lieutenant Qiligasz.” Shiro nodded. “Docking clearance granted. Welcome aboard.” With that, the shuttle the Lieutenants arrived on moved in to dock in the Castle-hangar. Once there, the Paladins welcomed Wolo and Cinda, as well as their accompaniments Krik Keats and Saluta Tagor Katz.

“Hey how ya doin’, my man?” Hunk smiled as he chest-bumped with Tagor.

“Doing a lot better now, Hunk.” the alien smiled. “If all goes to plan here, my people will have their planet back.”

“Well, here’s hopin’ everything _does_ go to plan then.” Keith smiled.

“Speaking of which, what exactly _is_ our plan here?” Lance shrugged.

“Well, I suppose that depends on the layout of the Galra compound on the surface.”  Keith shrugged.

“ _Then I suppose it’s lucky I just found that out,_ ” Coran smirked over the castle-speakers. “ _All hands to bridge._ ” That order was swiftly followed as everyone in the hangar quickly moved to the bridge to find a holographic layout of the mining base set up on the ocean floor.

Pidge whistled. “Impressive. Brutal though the Galra may be, they’re efficient.”

“We’ve run a personnel check on the data we recovered from some of the ships you destroyed on Crydor,” Shiro smirked as he gave Keith a side-long glance. “What was left of them.”

“Hey, what can I say?” Keith smirked. “When I throw down, I throw down _hard_. Plus, it just felt _damn good!_ ”

“Sure.” Shiro rolled his eyes at the Black Paladin. “Anyway, we’ve found that the Galra in-charge of this operation is someone called Quartermaster Janka; apparently one of the best bureaucrats in the Empire, responsible for overseeing supply-shipments throughout imperial space.”

“Pfft. If he got dumped with a job like that, he must not have been a very good soldier.” Lance shrugged.

“I doubt that very much, Lance.” Allura reminded him. “The Galra are a warrior-race; their creed is ‘Victory or death’. Given that, I’d say Janka is just as deadly as that Commander Yurak who attacked the Castle on Arus.”

“She’s right.” Hunk brought up. “However we do this, we should be careful.”

“Any ideas?” Keith asked.

Cinda smiled as she walked up to the hologram. “Well, it looks like Janka’s meticulous nature will undo him.” she indicated in the hologram, pointing out key strategic points. “I grew up in this area, so I know it like the bumps on an Earth-lobster’s shell, and I know that there’s a volcanic vent over here on the east side which connects to a mountain right…” Cinda looked back to the planet’s surface out the viewport and pointed to the volcano she meant. “There.”

“Is it active?” asked Sven.

“Once, a few centuries ago.” Krik shrugged, his native accent still as prominent as ever. “But ever since then, it’s been flooded and rendered dormant.”

“Alright then. Here’s the plan;” said Keith, coming up with it. “The Galra will spot the Lions coming from a mile away, and we can’t risk them harming any of the natives they’ve enslaved, so we Paladins will pressurize our Lion-Speeders and ride _them_ into the volcano. Once we’re there, we’ll hide them and move to liberate the place the old-fashioned way.”

“Sounds good. We’ll keep the ship up here and prepare to provide cover in case you need it.” Shiro nodded at the plan. “Wolo, you and your team are more than welcome to help on the ship. Now let’s move.”

“Yes sir!” everyone yelled as they all moved to their stations; the Paladins to the Lion-Hangars and the others to their positions around the ship. Then Keith saw Sven moving down to the hangar bay, which confused him.

“Where’re you going?”

“Oh, I’m going with you.” Sven smiled. “I checked; turns out _my_ predecessor had a speeder too, and let’s face it; you might need all the help you can get.”

Keith smiled at the white-plated newbie. “Alright then. Get down there and let’s do this.” Sven smiled and saluted to his commander as he and the others quickly zipped down to their speeders. Before the system could load them into the Lions, the first five Paladins pulled around the loading-ramps and sealed the cockpits, pressurizing them just like the plan. “Paladins, sound off. Everyone ready to go?”

“ _Heck yeah!_ ” Lance.

“ _Absolutely._ ” Pidge.

“ _Let us begin._ ” Allura.

“ _Time to go break stuff!_ ” Hunk.

“ _Let’s do this._ ” Sven.

“That’ll do it, Bridge. We’re a-go for launch.” Keith reported.

“ _Alright Speeders, happy hunting._ ” Shiro smiled. One press of the breach buttons and the Speeders were sent shooting from the Castle toward the planet. Once they got caught in the gravitational field, they started rattling as they were jostled in the atmosphere.

Suddenly Hunk realized something important. “Um, Cinda? How high is the water level in that volcano?”

That made Cinda realize it too, so she quickly checked. “ _Uh, the area currently aiming for is…_ ” She froze when she realized it. “ _Only a few feet! Far too shallow for the Speeders!_ ”

“You think you could’ve mentioned that sooner?!” Lance asked angrily.

“No point obsessing over the past, Lance. Just get ready to fire emergency thrusters on my mark.” Keith ordered. “The same goes for the rest of you. Fire thrusters when I say and _only_ when I say; no sooner, no later.”

“ _Copy._ ” Everyone reported as they entered the volcano.

“Wait…” Keith held his hand over the thruster-button along with the others. “Wait…” The other five were getting impatient and worried about crashing until… “NOW!!!” Quickly, they all hit the button and the emergency thrusters quickly blasted out of the speeders, slowing them to a steady descent to a safe point inside the volcano’s core.

Once they landed, they all disengaged their Speeders’ cockpits and disembarked. “Everyone alright?” asked Keith.

“Hoo. Yeah, we’re good.” Lance groaned as he stretched, his fingers still shaking from the adrenaline. “Let’s agree to never do that again, okay?”

“No promises.” Keith smiled as he activated his sword. “Now let’s get ready. Respirators on, pressurize armor.” Everyone quickly did so and Keith took the first deep breath as their visors polarized to grant them better vision so deep underwater. “Let’s do this.”


	19. Submerged Combat

The Paladins soon found themselves right at the edge of the vent Cinda had described, weapons ready should they be needed. Lance stared downrange through his scope at some of the sentries patrolling the compound and watching over the Luxian laborers.

“Man, looks like this Janka guy doesn’t really give a damn about labor-conditions,” he remarked, looking at how malnourished some of the laborers looked.

“Not surprising.” Allura shrugged. “The Galra hardly care about anything aside from their conquest of the universe.”

Keith’s brow furrowed at that, still having told no one about Ulaz or the Blades, but he kept his focus. “Alright, what’s the plan?”

“I think I have an idea.” Sven smiled, switching his Bayard to freeze-gun mode. “Why not make some ice cubes?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Sven,” Pidge warned. “Your ray freezes on contact with any substance, so if you fire it down here, it might freeze up and clog the muzzle.”

“Wait a sec; if Lance’s gun has a sniper mode, then maybe _our_ Bayards have alternate ranged modes too.” Hunk theorized.

“Maybe.” Sven checked his gun and smiled as his helmet showed him a new mode. He thought about it and the freeze ray swiftly transformed into what looked like an icicle machine gun. “Now we’re talkin’.”

“Nice, but we can’t go in guns-blazing; the slaves might get caught in the crossfire.” Keith reminded. “We’ll have to be stealthy about this.”

“Now there’s a question; does this armor come with a stealth-mode?” asked Lance.

“ _Not exactly,_ ” Alfor said over the comms. “ _Whenever we original Paladins needed to go on stealth missions, we would leave our heavy armor behind and go in wearing our bodysuits. They do have pressurized hoods though so you should be good to use them._ ”

“Excellent. Thank you, father.” Allura smiled. “Then we go back to the speeders and leave our heavy plate there.”

“Alright, sounds like a plan.” Keith nodded as they all swam back into the mountain. Once in the cave, the Paladins all dropped their white heavy-plate and placed it in their speeders before donning their reflective mail armor, which had their colors on the chestplates just like the armor, and locked their hoods on, ready to dive again. “Alright Paladins, time to go to war.” Quickly, the Paladins all scattered, swimming around the base with their weapons ready to strike down any guards that get too close.

Lance glanced off to one side and saw one Galra guard in a dive-suit dragging a female Luxian inside an airlock in the compound. Lance knew what something like this might mean and scowled at it. “Hey guys, I’m gonna check something out real quick. Stand by.” He swam over to the airlock to try and open it but found that it needed a keycode. “Pidge, I need an access code for this terminal.”

“ _Roger. Transmitting my hack-code now,_ ” she replied, sending her data to Lance’s glove-computer as the air-lock vented off the water inside.

And once it did, Lance heard a whip crack inside and the Luxian screaming in pain. He growled at the sound of this and swiftly uploaded Pidge’s virus into the control panel, quickly causing the airlock doors to open just enough for Lance to slip in before they closed. Once inside, he saw that he had brought a small lake in with him to see that the Galra had chained the young Luxian woman up by her wrists and had already made one long deep cut across her already-scarred back with the plasma whip in his right hand.

Lance narrowed his eyes in rage at this insidious display and quickly clubbed the guard with the stock of his Bayard, knocking him to the ground. Once he was down, Lance turned to the girl and activated his spear, slashing her free from her restraints and catching her before she hit the ground.

Quickly he disengaged his hood’s seal and pulled down the mouthguard to look at this young woman. “Can you stand?”

The girl softly sobbed. “Yes, just barely.” She looked off over her shoulder at the young man. “Who are you?”

“Name’s Lance; Galaxy Garrison,” he answered and pulled out a small dermal regenerator.

“I am Plaxum. The Coalition has waged war against the Galra?” she asked as she felt her back healing.

“Yep. And it’s going to be hardcore.” Lance nodded as he finished healing the open wound. “Now, you have to get outta here and hide.”

Plaxum was about to say something when Lance’s coms beeped. “ _Lance, where are you? We’ve got a problem._ ”

Lance groaned and turned on his coms to reply. “Now is _really_ not a good time, Keith. What could be more important than saving innocent lives? Which is what I’m doing right now, thanks.”

“ _Did saving her happen to involve taking down a guard?_ ” asked Pidge.

“Deh- Yes.” Lance relented.

“ _Well then, how about you guess what the goddamn problem is?!_ ” Keith’s yell caused some major feedback over the com-lines.

“Ow! Dammit Keith, I thought we talked about this! No shouting over com-lines!” Lance growled. “Now, what’s the problem?”

“The sentries made us.” Sven quickly lit the droids up with his gun as he and the others moved behind an outcropping. “We managed to evacuate the slaves to the vent, but we’re pinned down and I can hear some fighters en route. We need backup.”

Lance growled at this but looked back at Plaxum as he locked his hood back on and pressurized it. “Think you can make it to the volcano?”

“Of course.”

“Good.” Lance quickly moved to open the airlock, but then he looked back at the Galra soldier and growled. It took a minute, but he had gotten the soldier chained up in the slave’s place and given him a respirator. “Once this war is over, you owe me one for sparing you.” With that, he hit the airlock and allowed the chamber to flood. “Let’s go!” With that, he grabbed Plaxum’s wrist and shot toward the vent with his rocket-pack to see the others were indeed pinned down by enemy fire. “Eat plasma, lizards!” He fired on the guards and quickly blasted out a hole for the two to escape through, sliding in to meet the others. “Okay, we’re here. Now what’s the plan?”

“Easy. Armor up and blow this place to hell.” Pidge smirked.

“Good plan. I like this plan.” Lance nodded as he moved to his speeder and quickly armored up. “Plaxum, take your people down another one of these vents and hide. We’ll take care of this.”

“Thank you, Lance.” Plaxum nodded and ran down another vent with her people. The Paladins quickly armored up before blasting out of the vent blasting and slashing everything in sight without mercy until finally, they made it to the same airlock Lance was in earlier.

Once the door was sealed, Keith blasted the control panel and locked the door, purging the room of water in the process. “There. That oughtta hold ‘em for a while.”

“Here’s hoping we can get some answers out of this guy before they get in.” Lance shrugged as he moved to the guard and removed his respirator. “Wake up.” One strong smack across the face and the prisoner was awake. “Now talk. What are you guys doing down here?”

The Galra laughed. “I would think you would’ve known, Earthling. After all, _you_ attacked _us_.”

“Only because you guys were the closest planet in this sector.” Keith drew his sword and aimed the point to his throat, only a few millimeters away. “Now answer the man’s question; what is the purpose of this outpost?”

“Mining.” the soldier relented. “For anything available to serve the Empire.”

“Thanks.” Lance smiled and punched the soldier in the face, knocking him out again before turning on his comlink. “Coran, could you run a scan of the planet? See if there’s anything here that the Galra might need?”

“ _Right away, Lance_.” Quickly activating the scanners, the castle probed the planet for anything indeed worth investigating. “ _Doesn’t appear to be anything major; standard mineral deposits for a planet such as this, and clearly not lacking in water_.” But something suddenly popped up that surprised him. “ _Hang on a tick. This can’t be right. That’s… impossible_.”

“What’s impossible?” asked Keith.

“ _One of the mineral deposits, Keith,_ ” Coran replied. “ _It appears to be… Voltonium._ ” This statement stunned the Paladins in many different ways until suddenly, the growling of the Lions echoed in their minds and made them double over in pain as their Defense Marks started glowing, causing the chest-emblems on their suits to glow as well.

“What the hell?” Keith groaned. “Coran, something’s wrong with the Lions.”

“I’ve noticed,” he replied, bringing up the feeds. “They must be reacting to the Voltonium.”

“Wait a sec.” Pidge realized. “Maybe they’re telling us V-15 is here.”

“ _I doubt that Number Six- I have you ranked by height, mkay?_ ” Coran’s last comment angered Pidge, but she kept it together. “ _There isn’t enough Voltonium on this planet to fully constitute V-15. At best, we could create a craft one-third of his size, but I’m not sure how we’re going to get it._ ”

“Seems simple enough to me.” shrugged Hunk. “Push the Galra off the planet, bring it into the Coalition and assign some Garrison mining craft to excavate the ore and bring it back to Earth so we can start constructing him.”

“That’s assuming we can get the Galra off this planet before they find the Voltonium.” Sven rationalized. “How long will that take, Coran?”

“ _Best estimate; I’d say a few hours, maybe less if the data on Janka is accurate._ ”

“Then what’re we waiting for?” Pidge shrugged. “I had my hack-code give Lance a map of the complex when he got us this entrance. You’re our guide.”

“Alright then,” Lance smirked and pulled up the map data in his HUD. “Time to go weapons-free.” The Paladins all readied their Bayards’ ranged-modes with Sven switching his gun back into the freeze ray. Lance smiled as he cocked his rifle. “Follow me.” With that, he opened the door to see a large group of guards, sentry and otherwise. “Hunk, if you would?”

“Abso-freakin-lutely.” The tank quickly moved up and spun his gun, blasting all the guards out of the way with a torrent of plasma fire. “Let’s rock n’ roll people!” The Paladins quickly ran down the halls, blasting every guard they encountered to the ground until finally, they arrived at the large control room at the top of the complex.

“Everybody on the ground!” Lance’s yell surprised the Galra guards so much that they almost all stumbled over from their posts as Keith walked in like he owned the place.

“Good afternoon, everyone. Hope you don’t mind, but we’ll be taking ownership of this outpost now,” he smirked as he looked around. “Where is Quartermaster Janka?”

“ _I_ am Quartermaster Janka.” The Paladins looked and saw a small, rotund Galra soldier with some sort of optical headset.

One look at him and Lance cracked a small smirk. “You’ve gotta be kidding me, right? _This_ is the guy in charge of a planetary subjugation force?”

“I’ve conquered more planets than you’ve ever _seen_ with just the swipe of my finger,” Janka growled. “And since you have invaded my post, I must defend it. Victory or death!”

Lance just laughed out-loud as a strange large robotic form came together around Janka’s body, causing Lance’s laughing to steadily decline until large photon cannons locked violently into place on Janka’s new armored battle-suit, aimed at the Paladins and began to charge, at which point he stopped laughing altogether and simply said “Oh, we’re boned.” And indeed, as Janka fired the plasma cannons at them.

“Scatter!” Keith ordered as they all quickly dodged as Janka swung his cannons around the room, firing indiscriminately at everything and anything in sight, nearly even killing all his own men as they all ducked for cover.

“Madre de Dios, this guy’s insane!” Lance resolved. “I get the creed, but is he tryin’ to his own guys?!”

“I don’t think it matters _who_ he kills.” Sven shrugged. “As long as he can give Voltron to Zarkon, it won’t matter.”

“Then I suggest we deal with him first.” Allura resolved.

“Sven, freeze him!” Keith’s order was quickly ordered, a beam of cold blasting from the white Bayard and locking Janka’s battle-suit to the floor before also freezing up the rotational actuators in the torso, paralyzing everything but the blasters, which were still firing indiscriminately in every direction. “Lance, Allura, guns!”

“Got it!” Lance nodded and activated his sniper scope before he fired into the guns on the left arm, blasting them off as Allura extended the same courtesy to the right with her bow.

“Hunk… bash ‘im.” Keith smirked as he gave this last order.

“With pleasure.” Hunk smirked as well, shifting his Bayard to melee-mode and gave one last strong swing, shattering the suit and sending Janka bouncing comically to the door.

Keith quickly turned on the coms. “Keith to Castle. Janka has been defeated, and we’re prepared to come back and get Voltron so we can level this place.”

“ _Roger that,_ ” Shiro smirked over the coms. “ _See you when you’re done._ ” Suddenly the Paladins heard rifles cocking behind them. Pidge glanced over her shoulder and saw that the rest of Janka’s men seemed ready to blast them to dust.

“Guys cmon, don’t even think about it,” she said simply. “We have your boss. You shoot, you kill him.”

“That’s war, Green Paladin.” one of the men narrowed his eyes. “Not everyone makes it back.” Then out of nowhere, he turned his blaster on his fellows and started gunning them down. “Leave! Now!”

The Paladins were deeply confused by this, but then this soldier drew a dagger off his belt and started slashing and Keith saw a symbol on it; the Galra symbol for liberty. The same symbol he had seen on Ulaz’s sword when it was held to his throat. “ _What the hell?!_ ” Quickly he used his helmet to capture a picture of the scene and moved back. “Time to go, guys! Cmon!” The others were still confused, but they didn’t argue and ran out of the compound back to the volcano. Once there, they flew their speeders back to the Castle and dropped Janka in the brig before the first five flew back out in their Lions.

Once they made it back to the atmosphere, a single Galra fighter flew out of the water and warped away from the planet, clearly carrying the soldier who had gone completely ape-shit in the control room. “Does anyone wanna explain what just happened in there?” asked Lance.

“Believe me; I would, but I don’t know either.” Allura shrugged.

“Don’t worry about it too much, guys.” Keith shrugged. “Let’s just deal with this and get it over with. FORM VOLTRON!!!” With that order, the Lions quickly flew toward the planet into formation.

The Black Lion’s forelegs folded into the body and it shifted for the head to be facing straight ahead like a human’s. Keith stood up and smiled as he dropped down the main cockpit chute.

The Red and Green Lions folded their legs as well and locked to the Black Lion’s shoulders, sending Lance and Pidge up to the cockpit as well. Once they were gone, the Lions’ jaws and heads unlocked and slid back on the arms, revealing large hands with circular plasma cannons in the palms.

The same thing happened to the Blue and Yellow Lions, but they locked to the Black Lion’s hind legs forming shins and feet, sending Hunk and Allura up to the cockpit as well. Once all the Lions had locked together, the Black Lion opened its mouth to reveal a silver metal plate which parted to reveal a silver face-plate with blue, red and green around the eyes, which suddenly flashed to solid yellow and the Black Lion’s gold ears folded out into tall horns.

Once all the Paladins were in the main cockpit, they all scowled as Voltron landed under the waves in front of the compound. “So what’s the plan; just rip this place apart?” asked Lance.

“Sounds good to me.” Keith shrugged and pointed Voltron’s fists at the compound. “Engage Projectile Punches!” At that order, Lance and Pidge suddenly shot out of the cockpit and landed back in their Lions’ heads which re-engaged over Voltron’s hands before they shot off like missiles, flying around the compound, ripping the compound apart with little effort before they finally locked back onto Voltron’s arms and transformed back into hands, with Lance and Pidge returning to the central cockpit.

“Whoo! Man, that was awesome!” Lance whooped as his seat locked back into place before he leaned back in it. “Alright, let’s set ‘er down out near the mountain and get ready for the ‘thank you’ parade.”

“That sounds a bit obligatory.” Allura raised an eyebrow.

“You realize who you’re talking to, right?” asked Pidge. Either way, once the Castle made landfall on the land near the volcano, the people of Luxia cheered for Voltron with all their hearts. Lance reveled in it, allowing the women to get as close as they wished, taking selfies with as many of them as he could fit in the frame… much to the chagrin of the others.

“I’m almost afraid to ask, but is he always like this?” asked Allura.

“Well, he wasn’t.” Hunk shrugged. “Least not while he was dating Emily back in Newport.”

“What happened with her?” asked Allura.

“Dunno. He doesn’t like to talk about it.” Sven shrugged. Finally, a lovely Luxian woman in a long cloak approached.

“I thank you, great Paladins of Voltron,” she said and bowed. “I am Florona, former queen of this planet.”

“Better take that ‘former’ off your title, your highness,” Shiro smirked as he walked down to her. “I’m Captain Shiro, and by the authority of the Galactic Coalition, I return to you your throne.”

Florona smiled with a small blush at Shiro as she bowed. “Thank you, Captain. And with your permission, I’d like to thank you for this great honor in our traditional way.”

“Oh, there’s really no need for that, your highness,” Shiro said respectfully, remembering that section of his exoanthropology class. “Just promise me that when the time comes to take the fight to the Galra’s doorstep, we can count on your people for help.”

“Now and forever.” Florona nodded and gave Shiro a respectful hug.

“Dad, do you think we can get a few mining ships out here for the Voltonium?” asked Pidge.

“Why consult outside help?” Florona asked as she walked over. “Simply tell me what you seek and my people can excavate it and have it sent to Earth.”

“Thank you, your highness.” Keith nodded respectfully before looking at the others. “Now… I think it’s time we discuss something.”

“Agreed.” Coran nodded. “We’ll have to discuss this Galra traitor you mentioned.”

**Meanwhile…**

Speaking of said traitor, he was bound toward Emperor Zarkon’s central warship but was instead picked up by Lotor’s fleet, causing him to be thrown to the ground in front of Lotor’s desk, apparently much more wounded than he was when he left Luxia.

“Tell me Zethrid. Who exactly is this?” Lotor asked condescendingly as he filed his claws.

“Fringe-lieutenant, Prince. Name’s Thace. Outpost got destroyed.” the general explained.

“Really?” Lotor raised an eyebrow at this as he lifted a hand, looking at his claws. “Leave us.” Zethrid saluted and left the chamber. “Now then… Lieutenant Thace… where exactly is your outpost?”

“Luxia.”

“Ah yes, Quartermaster Janka. He’s been one of the greatest candidates for the Kraal Zera for the last few years. I trust he arrived with you?”

“Actually no, I’m afraid he’s been captured,” Thace explained. “I was the only survivor.”

“Really? Well, that’s rather unfortunate.” shrugged Lotor. “If something were to happen to my status as heir, which honestly is highly unlikely, I was quite looking forward to fighting him for the throne.”

“I must admit I would’ve liked to see that myself, your highness,” Thace replied. “Though I am more than prepared to see you crush him underfoot.”

“Thank you for your faith lieutenant.” Lotor smiled. “Might I ask who’s captured him?”

“It was the Coalition. Led by…” Thace stopped for a second before he found his tongue again. “…Voltron.”

This comment suddenly sparked the prince’s interest as he finally turned his throne to face the lieutenant. “So what you mean to tell me… is that Voltron destroyed your compound, killed all your fellows and captured the quartermaster… and you ran?”

“I fought valiantly, my prince, but I was forced to retreat,” Thace responded.

Lotor tisked at the soldier as he picked a knife up off the arm of his throne. “Come now, Thace. Do you not remember the Galra creed? Victory or death, remember?”

“Perfectly, my prince, but I thought it best to report the loss of the planet as soon as possible.” Thace reasoned. “I fight and serve in the name of Galra. My duty is to the empire and all her worlds. I only wished to serve your father; the emperor, by alerting him to the dangers presented by the Coalition fleet.”

Lotor mulled this around in his head for a moment but shrugged. “I suppose that’s a fair excuse.” He smiled. “And I suppose that congratulations are in order, _Commander_.” Thace perked up at this.

“Sir?” he asked in confusion.

“Such initiative and loyalty deserve a reward. Thus I promote you and assign you to Fleet 7-Xartos-Omega. Congratulations.” Lotor smirked.

Thace stood with a stern look on his face, placing a fist on his chest. “Thank you, my prince. Vrepit Sa.”

Lotor mirrored the new commander’s body language. “Vrepit Sa.” He sat back down and turned back to his desk. “Now then… I believe you have an assignment elsewhere.”

“Yes, sir.” Thace nodded and left the prince’s cabin with the utmost haste, taking the fighter he arrived on out away from Lotor’s fleet. Once away, he opened a com-line on a different frequency. “Come in, Listening Post Thaldycon. This is Brother Thace broadcasting on a secure channel.”

“ _This is Listener Aaimin, prepared to receive._ ” a voice said in reply. “ _What have you to report?_ ”

“The imperial outpost on planet Luxia has been leveled by Voltron and Quartermaster Janka taken prisoner by the Coalition,” Thace reported. “I’ve reported to Prince Lotor; told him the Coalition destroyed the outpost and killed everyone else there but me. I’ve received a promotion to Commander and have been reassigned Commander Prorok’s fleet.”

“ _Perfect. Everything proceeds according to plan._ ” Aaimin smirked over the transmission. “ _Is there anything else?_ ”

“I saw that the Black Paladin of Voltron seemed to recognize me from somewhere. No idea where from though. I’m moving to my new assignment now. Inform the Grandmaster that if all goes according to Kolivan’s predictions, we will be able to proceed perfectly according to plan.” Thace reported.

“ _Understood. Thaldycon out._ ” With that, Aaimin terminated the communique. The universe faced a great war, unlike any ever seen before. The only hope across all systems was that when the smoke cleared, the victory belonged to those who deserved it.


	20. Rook Takes Knight

Once the castle was off Luxia, Keith put the picture he took up on the main viewer.

“I honestly can’t believe it,” Alfor stated in genuine shock. “I thought Zarkon would have crushed any and all Galra resistance under his boot-heel by now.”

“Guess I was right to want to bring it up.” Keith shrugged.

“Still, who are these guys?” asked Lance. “Why would they want to rebel against their own empire?”

“I don’t know. All I _do_ know is that if there’s a resistance movement among Zarkon’s own race, then we have to take the chance and ally with them.” Keith resolved.

“Are we sure that’s a good idea?” asked Sven. “I mean for all we know, this could be a trap.”

“Yeah, I’m with Sven here; I don’t think we can trust this.” Hunk nodded.

“Well, there’s only one way to find out.” Shiro shrugged. “Keith, do you have any idea how to contact them?”

“Nothin’.” Keith shrugged. “Unless we can make contact with that guy from the compound, which in itself is highly unlikely.” Obviously, he’d left out Ulaz in this, but even then, he wasn’t sure _everyone_ in the Order of the Blades was Galra, and if he mentioned the fact that he had heard about this resistance movement from a stowaway on the castle, things might go downhill _very_ quickly.

“Well until we do, I say we move on; see what we can do to establish a better foothold in enemy territory.” Shiro resolved.

“Well while you’re planning that, Shiro, I’m heading down to the core chamber.” Coran twisted his mustache. “The varied conditions we’ve had to deal with since we began the war have really worn the old Castle of Lions out. Lance, you wouldn’t mind helping me would you?”

“What? Can’t Hunk do it?” Lance asked in boredom, looking at Hunk now reclining in his seat on the bridge with a set of surgical tools in hand and Romelle off by his side.

“Sorry man, no-can-do; took a lot of flack on Luxia. Gonna need some time before I’m fit for duty again.” he shrugged as he pulled the suture through his flesh to close one of his wounds.

Lance gave an annoyed groan. “Alright, fine. Lead the way, Coran.” And the older Altean did just that with the young Paladin following, hands in his jacket pockets. Keith smirked after his second-in-command; Lance may have been a great pilot and fighter, but if any chance came up for him to avoid work, he’d take it. He was about to sit back down himself when he saw Allura walking off the bridge with a strange look on her face. He was confused and a bit concerned so he quickly got up and followed her out.

Below decks, Lance and Coran had just made it to the power core of the castle; a massive vaulted chamber with a large blue power crystal connected to the castle power-grid in the center of the room. “Y’know Coran, no matter how much time I spend with Altean tech, I’m still never gonna understand how these crystals work to power spaceships.”

“Well, it’s actually quite simple.” Coran smiled as the two walked in, not noticing the small laser tripwire that had been set in the doorway. “These crystals are powered by the natural life force of some of the most enormous beings in the universe. Once generated, they can simply be removed and loaded into the engines.” He turned to the console. “Now, it looks like the systems are operating within standard parameters, but… that’s odd. The graviton field appears to be a bit off. Hm, must be from the Voltonium on Luxia. Which, come to think of it, how did it get there in the first place?”

“I dunno. Maybe the V-15 asteroid broke up in space once it reached this galaxy.” Lance shrugged. He suddenly became confused when he heard something nearby; a quiet beeping coming from the crystal. “Hey uh, Coran… do uh, do you hear something?”

Coran looked up and listened, but was intrigued. “No. What’s wrong?”

“Not sure.” Lance shrugged as he moved around the crystal. “Gimme a second.”

Back upstairs, Allura was staring out into space through a large window with a stern look on her face. She glanced to one side at the sound of footsteps and saw Keith walking up with a caring smile on his face. “I figured I’d find you back here.”

“Really? And how’s that?” she asked, looking back to the stars.

“I heard from Coran that you always come to this part of the castle when there’s something heavy weighing on your mind.” Keith shrugged. “And I’d be lying if I said looking at the stars didn’t help calm _me_ down too. So… what’s brought you out here this time?”

Allura sighed as she moved to sit in the large windowsill with her side pointed out to the glass. “Can I be honest with you, Keith?” The black paladin nodded to his partner and Allura looked back out the window. “I’m not sure we can trust this supposed traitor no matter what.”

“Allura, you saw him. He cut down the rest of the officers at his station without a second thought.” Keith reminded her. “If this _is_ a trap, it’s probably the most elaborate one I’ve ever seen.”

“Well if Janka is any indication, I’d say the Galra are more than meticulous enough to come up with something like this.” Allura shrugged. “All I’m saying is that if we trust this, we’ll most likely be left with only one of two options; either we _do_ end up with allies within the Empire or we just get ourselves killed and Zarkon takes command of Voltron. And I don’t like our odds with Option 1.”

“Well, if last poker night with Jeff and Hutch is any indication, I’d say I’ve had luck on my side for a long time,” Keith smirked, remembering that night. “Seriously, I almost lost everything to those guys but one Royal Flush outta nowhere, and I was walkin’ away with the whole pot shoved down my spacesuit.”

“Well, I honestly hope your luck holds.” Allura scowled, standing and walking away. “For all our sakes.”

“Wha- aw. Allura!” Keith called as he walked after her.

Back in the core chamber, Lance was still trying to isolate whatever was making that weird beeping until he finally found a likely suspect; some sort of device locked onto the crystal. And it had a strange canister filled with some sort of crystal latched onto it. “Hey uh, Coran, you got a spectrometer on you?”

“No good explorer goes anywhere without one.” The Altean smiled, tossing it over to him. Lance quickly caught it and pointed it at the canister, his eyes popping as he saw what was inside it; bilitrium, which he remembered from the Garrison (amazingly) was a highly explosive crystalline compound. He looked at the apparatus it was latched to and realized what it was; an explosive trigger and timer.

Once he saw that, he quickly realized “ _2 + 2 = BOMB!_ ” as the beeping sped up so he dropped the spectrometer and ran around the crystal to Coran. “Hit the deck!” He dove and knocked the older man to the ground just as the bomb went off in his back and shattered the crystal. Once the crystal blew, the whole castle shook, knocking the crew around the decks and sending Keith to the floor just as he caught up with Allura on the bridge again.

“What the hell was that?!” he asked, suddenly feeling weightless.

“No idea, but the power just died; nothing’s working. Grav-net, weapons, engines, med-bay; the castle’s dead across the board.” Sam replied, looking at the readout.

Allura’s eyes popped at the news of this. “Mother! Father!”

“Don’t worry Allura, we’re fine,” Alfor replied. “We transferred our AIs to the back-up power generator, along with life-support. I’m afraid that’s all we can do without consuming _too_ much power.”

“Well, what happened?” asked Hunk.

“Something must’ve damaged the core.” Pidge theorized, before remembering something. “Oh crap; Lance!” Quickly she armored up along with Keith, Allura, Hunk, and Sven.

“Shiro, see what you can do to get the power back on,” Keith ordered. “Sam, whatever happened couldn’t have happened out of the blue. Find me anything to suggest something was planted in the power core. Sven, you stay here for security just in case.”

“Understood.” The four Paladins quickly shot down the elevator shaft with their rocket-packs to the core chamber to find it blanketed in smoke, making everyone cough.

“Coran! Lance! You guys okay?!” Keith called into the room. Allura looked off to one side and saw Coran floating near the door.

“Coran!” She quickly floated over and grabbed him. “Are you okay?”

“What happened in here?” asked Keith.

“Ugh, not sure exactly.” Everyone looked up and saw that the large crystal had been shattered in the explosion. Hunk looked to the ground near the blast and saw his fellow on the ground.

“Lance!” he yelled, floating over to his side. “Lance, are you okay?” Unfortunately, Lance was unconscious. “We need to get him up to Romelle!”

“I think we have a bigger problem than that, Hunk!” Shiro yelled as he floated down. “We have a Galra ship drawing us in with a tractor beam!”

“Well, that explains the disturbance I detected in the graviton field.” Coran nodded. “Unfortunately, without another crystal, we’re basically a giant floating bullseye. But if we want a crystal, we need a ship.”

“Good news then; I managed to get enough power to the pod-bay to launch one before the Galra ship pulls us in the rest of the way.” Shiro nodded.

“Good. I should be able to use the scanner in the pod to find the nearest Balmera. Hunk, come with me; I’m gonna need some muscle to carry the crystal.” Coran floated down the elevator shaft to the pod-bay.

“Wait, what _is_ a Balmera? I missed that day in class.” Hunk remembered as he followed the older man.

“It’s the source of the crystals; I’ll explain on the way.”

“We’d better get to the bridge and get ready for a fight.” Keith resolved. “If they’re drawing us in, then maybe we can fight them off and get control of the ship back.”

“Well, at the very least, we can definitely make a lot of noise before we go down in a blaze of glory.” Pidge shrugged, drawing her katar.

“Sounds good to me,” Keith smirked, drawing his sword. “Let’s go.” Quickly, they flew up to the bridge, ready to defend it with their lives.

In the hangar, Coran and Hunk had quickly boarded a pod and Shiro stood by on the console. “All systems green.” Hunk reported. “Ready to launch whenever you are, Shiro.”

“Affirmative. Preparing to launch.” Shiro nodded, moving ready to press the launch button before he looked at the cockpit. “By the way…” Hunk looked out at him and the old captain smirked. “Anzen ni modotte kite, anata wa kikoemasu ka?” (Translation: “Come back safe, you hear?”)

Hunk smirked and flashed the captain a thumbs-up. “Sore o tayori ni.” (Translation: “Count on it.”) Then he turned back to the bay-door and locked his helmet on. “Open her up.”

“Roger that. Good luck.” Shiro nodded one last time before he breached the door and sent the pod shooting out into space before he sealed it back up again and prepared his palm blaster. “Terra in aeternum.” (Translation: “Earth Forever.”) With that, he quickly floated back up to the bridge to prepare for the fight of his life alongside his fellows. Thankfully, once he arrived on the bridge, the gravity seemed to normalize as the cruiser’s power activated the grav-net.

A large battalion of sentries started marching to the bridge door to the bridge, but everyone available grabbed up a weapon and aimed it directly at the door. But to their surprise, they simply opened and who should stand there but the same Soldier who tried taking the castle on Arus. “Commander Yurak. Nice to see you again.” Keith scowled, obviously being facetious.

“ _Captain_ Yurak now, Black Paladin.” the soldier replied. “My felling King Alfor on Arus has been rewarded with a promotion… and an expansion of my fleet.”

“Well. Congratulations.” Keith smirked, cocking his gun. “Sorry to say you won’t have them very long.”

“Oh, I suspect I’ll have this fleet for a long time, Paladin,” Yurak smirked. “And after I give Emperor Zarkon the great gift of Voltron, I’m sure it will expand evermore.”

“And what makes you think you’ll _have_ Voltron?” Allura asked, drawing her bow and aiming it straight for his head.

“Because, dear princess, who do you think set the bomb in your power core?” Yurak’s smirk suddenly allowed everything to click into place.

“So what, you kill the power and expect us to surrender Voltron to you just like that?” asked Pidge.

“Hardly. Now your friend there…” Yurak pointed a blaster at Lance, who was currently laying on the ground behind the other Paladins. “I may not know much about you Earthlings, but I do know one thing: you care for each other. Now drop your weapons or he dies.” They were left with no choice but to comply; they were about to lower their weapons but Keith quickly raised his hand and stopped them.

“One condition.” he glared. “Lance receives medical attention or we don’t surrender.”

Yurak smirked. “I’ll consider it. _If_ Princess Allura comes with us as well.”

“Excuse you?” Allura asked in anger.

“Prince Lotor has offered a great reward to whatever fleet who presents him with you,” Yurak explained. “Allow us to take you to Korrinoth to meet him and your Red Paladin will receive treatment.”

“And if she refuses to go along with you?” asked Keith.

“Then we will take her _and_ the Lions after we blast the castle from the stars.” Yurak scowled.

Keith scowled back but relented, dropping his Bayard to the ground, prompting the others to do so as well. “Alright. You win. We surrender.”

“Good,” Yurak smirked, extending a hand. “Now then Princess, your prince awaits.” Allura looked back to her fellows and her father’s hologram and sighed as she moved to Yurak’s guards. “Good. Bring in the crystal.”

“Uh, sorry? What about Lance?” asked Keith.

Yurak smirked as all the guards fired stun-blasts at the Paladins, knocking them to the ground. “What about him indeed?” He looked to his guards and smirked as they quickly locked restraints onto Allura’s wrists. “Contact Galra Central Command. Tell them Voltron is ours.”


	21. Crystals

Once the pod had launched from the Castle, Coran quickly ran a galactic scan and detected a Balmera not too far from the area where the ship had been captured so it wasn’t too long of a flight to the large planetoid-looking body. “So this is that Balmera moon?”

“Oh, it’s not a moon,” Coran replied to Hunk’s question. “Balmera are ancient star-swimming animals; petrified but still alive. Their life-force naturally generates the crystals that help power hundreds of different types of ships throughout the Coalition. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with a dilithium reactor or a good ramscoop, but crystal-tech is just more reliable. I often accompanied my grandfather and King Alfor to visit these majestic beasts when they were first building the Castle of Lions.” He gave a reminiscent sigh as he looked through old pictures from those trips. “I’ll never forget the first time I saw the shimmering surface of the Balmera in the Altea System. I’d say you’re in for quite the treat, old boy.”

Unfortunately, it wasn’t the kind of treat Coran remembered as once the pod broke the clouds, they saw a large network of towers and compounds with very familiar designs. “Oh no. The Galra must’ve established a mining colony here.” Coran growled. “Ugh, they have no regard for the poor creature.”

Hunk saw something on the surface below them and looked behind them to see a fighter. “I think that’s the least of our problems right now, Coran.” And he was right; the Galra fighter was drawing closer.

“ _Unknown vessel, you are violating sovereign Galra air-space._ ” a voice bellowed over the fighter’s exterior speakers. “ _State your ship identification, entry code, and landing destination._ ”

“Great. Now what?” asked Hunk.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got this,” Coran smirked as he opened a hailing frequency. “We’re not actually here to land; we’re just taking a look around, it that’s okay.”

“ _That remains to be seen._ ” the pilot replied. “ _You are to land immediately, exit your craft and prepare to be searched._ ”

“Understood,” Coran replied calmly. “We’ll see you on the surface.” With that, he quickly turned off the radio and turned to Hunk. “Hang on tight!” With that, he hit the throttle and shot the ship down to the surface, skillfully evading the fighter before they nearly made it to a large crater. “Brace yourself; this is gonna be bumpy!”

Hunk screamed as the pod rocketed down the large pit until he stopped as something crossed his mind. “How deep is this thing?!”

“Eh. It varies.” Coran shrugged… just before he clipped the thruster on a large metal catwalk crossing the pit which sent the pod tumbling out of control and into a rough landing on the ground at the bottom of the crater.

Once the cockpit opened, Hunk tumbled out and groaned as he pulled himself up and removed his helmet. “Well… any landing you can walk away from…”

Coran groaned along with him as he straightened his aged spine. “Agreed.”

Hunk looked around before his eyes locked onto something in the shadows of one of the mine’s tunnels; something that looked like two pairs of yellow eyes. “Uh, Coran? Is the one in the Altea System the _only_ populated Balmera in the universe?”

“As far as I know.” Coran shrugged, giving a frightened yelp when he saw the eye-lights.

**Meanwhile…**

Searing pain in the chest and a skull-crushing headache; this was absolutely what Keith was feeling as he sat up to find himself restrained on the bridge along with the others. “Ugh. Great.”

“Tch. Yeah, that’s an understatement, Keith.” Sven smirked. “Just consider yourself lucky they haven’t executed us yet.”

“That’s only because we need you alive to pilot Voltron,” Yurak growled. “After your… reconditioning, of course.”

“By which you mean mind-control, right?” asked Pidge. “You’re going to rewrite our brainwaves so we’re loyal only to the Galra empire; so we can help it conquer the universe, right?”

“Very perceptive, Green Paladin.” Yurak smiled.

“Well, I’m not sure how well that’s going to sit with the Lions themselves,” Shiro smirked. “They picked these kids for their own personalities, not whatever you Galra can come up with for them. Once you even _try_ to rewrite them, the Lions will reject them and they will scatter to the stars, and there will be nothing you can do to-” Shiro’s cocky monologue was interrupted by a Galra soldier hitting him in the stomach with the butt of his rifle. This trauma made him start coughing in pain, but he smirked again as he looked defiantly up at his attacker. “You’re an only child, aren’t you?”

The soldier scowled at him under her helmet and was about to punch him in the face when Yurak held up his hand, telling him to refrain. “Stand down, lieutenant. We don’t want our hostages roughed up too much. After all, we only need the Paladins. Everyone else, we can ransom back to their planets before we conquer them.”

“I’m afraid I have some bad news on that front, Captain,” Sendak reported. “Two of the passengers on this ship are missing.”

“Which ones?”

“The princess’ bodyguard… and the Yellow Paladin.” Sendak reported.

Yurak turned to his lieutenant with a scowl. “Are you telling me that we’re down a Lion?”

“No, sir. All five Lions of Voltron are accounted for. Though one of the transit pods has gone missing.”

Yurak gave a dry chuckle at that. “Those old things? Their range is horrible; we’ll find them easily.”

“Yes, sir.” Sendak saluted.

But their search would be rather difficult as they _had_ managed to make it to the Balmera, but the two pairs of eyes were approaching them from the tunnels. “Okay-okay, don’t come any closer!” Hunk bellowed, readying his minigun. “I only have a vague idea of how to use this thing!” Once the lifeforms came from the shadows however, Hunk smiled. “Oh phew. You’re just Balmerans.”

“Yes. But who are you?” one asked in a female voice. Suddenly all four heard a loud whirring, revealed by a glance up to be a fighter scanning the caves.

“Patrol.” the other Balmeran growled in a male voice. “Come, Shay. We must take leave of these ones, now.”

“Hey wait a tick. Please, we need your help.” Coran argued. “If you leave us to the Galra, they’ll kill us.”

“Or torture us.” Hunk suggested.

“Or-or keep us as some sort of creepy pet to play with however they please,” Coran added, trying his best to censor himself.

“Not our problem, hairy-lip. Galra see us near you, they kill us all.” the male argued. “Shay, exeunt.”

“Hold, Rax!” Shay stopped him from leaving. “All these years, only our people and the Galra have been seen down in these tunnels. I will not turn my back on the skylings.”

This made Coran and Hunk smile in happiness, but Rax just growled in anger. “Vex.” But he relented and ran to the pod, grabbing the left thruster. “Big one, grab the front!” Hunk quickly did so as Shay grabbed the right thruster. “In there, quickly!” The whole group quickly moved into the tunnel and hid the ship in the tunnel the two Balmerans had come from just as the ship came down to their level.

Hunk readied his Bayard just in case but found it unnecessary as the ship swiftly flew away. “Whew. Thanks for the save, guys. Name’s Tsuyoshi, but my friends just call me Hunk. This is Coran.”

“Shay. And this one, my brother Rax,” she replied as Rax crossed his arms with a disapproving glare. “How did you fall to us?”

“We came here for a crystal, actually.” Coran smiled. “And your people might be just the ones to help us find it.”

Back at the castle, the Paladins glared at any Galra who passed them by, showing genuine concern to Allura who was forced to stand near Yurak. Finally, Keith managed to slip his com up to his face in a position where the Galra wouldn’t hear it. “King Alfor, can you hear me?” he whispered.

“ _Affirmative._ ” the AI replied. “ _Melenor and I are doing what we can to make sure they do not get away with **my** ship. I’ve sent the mice hunting for the keys to your restraints and Melenor’s sent drones to find a way to release the Castle._”

“Good. Something tells me we’ll be in for a fight once we get loose, and we don’t need enemy reinforcements getting in our way.” Keith smirked, quickly dropping the com as a guard came closer. “What’re you lookin’ at?” The guard rolled his eyes at the human and walked away. Keith smirked as he heard a familiar skittering in the vents that could only be from the mice. Finally, the biggest; a large yellow one identified by Allura earlier as Platt, popped out of the vent behind him. He smirked and handed him a small grenade. “Find the crystal these guys are using, plant this on it, arm it and run.” His whispered instructions were quickly followed as Platt rolled the grenade back into the vent. Keith smirked at his fellows, knowing that their restraints were connected to the castle’s energy grid.

Back on the Balmera, Hunk and Coran had been taken to a cave deeper in the Balmera by Shay and Rax to meet their parents and grandmother and were treated to a meal around a fire. “Mm, thanks for the great soup.” Hunk smiled. “What’s in this, space potatoes?”

“Grandmother’s special dish for special visitors.” Shay smiled. “Cave-root for the skin. Cave bugs for the soul.”

Coran cringed at this news, but Hunk just shrugged and kept eating anyway. “Seriously?”

“What? Haven’t you had Thai food? Those guys love eating bugs; I don’t mind.” Hunk shrugged. “So how many of you are down here?”

“Thousands.” Shay’s father answered. “We work _and_ make home in these tunnels.”

“Three generations ago, when Grandmother was little, the Galra invaded and now we are forced to harvest crystals for the empire.” Shay continued.

“Zarkon…” Hunk growled. “It’s so… sad of him to enslave an entire planetoid.”

“Indeed. Zarkon may rule, but at least we still have family. _That_ is where true happiness comes from.” Shay’s father nodded.

Rax just scoffed and stood. “Prorok would tear our family apart if they found these ones!” he growled. “Everyone comes to Balmera and takes, but leaves nothing in return.”

“Who’s Prorok?” asked Hunk.

“The Galra commander in command of this system.” the mother replied. “And Rax is at least partially correct; in the past, those who were given the Balmera’s crystals would replenish her with their own life-energy. It was equivalent exchange.” She placed a hand to the ground, and it glowed under her hand as a low whale-like whine echoed from the point. “But Prorok’s men only take; it is no wonder we can feel her suffering.”

“I’m sorry we’ve put everyone in this situation; really I am, but the faster we get what we need and get off-world, the faster you’re all out of danger.” Hunk reasoned.

“Very well.” the father nodded. “What type of crystal do you seek?”

“Battleship-class,” Coran answered.

Shay’s father looked pained. “Those are most rare in this age. Galra sentries guard them ceaselessly until their harvest. I apologize, but your quest is in vain.”

“Perhaps not.” Shay pondered. “There _is_ one; found only recently. It is almost ready to be excavated.”

“Silence, Shay,” Rax growled. “Even if they _could_ retrieve the crystal, Galra patrols await outside to destroy their ship. These ones have no hope of escaping, with crystal or without.”

He moved away from the fire. “I go back to work.” With that, he left down the tunnel.

“Rax…” Shay said, but he didn’t even slow down, prompting her to simply sigh.

“Is he always like this?” Hunk asked.

“He and many others like him. My people have lived under the Galra for three generations; we barely remember what it feels like for Balmera to be in peace.” Shay’s distress was palpable for the Yellow Paladin, but he knew there wasn’t much he could do now.

“So this crystal thing is basically the hardest thing in the universe for a guy to get his hands on?” he asked.

“Well, I don’t know about _the_ hardest.” Coran shrugged. “There _is_ the scaultrite mineral found only in the third stomachs of giant weblum space-worms. Collecting that stuff’s no picnic.” Hunk’s eyes narrowed, asking for seriousness. “Eh, but yes, this does seem rather difficult.”

“If you wish, you may stay here until Balmera gives another crystal. One hidden from Galra eyes.” Shay suggested.

“No time. I’ve got a wounded friend who needs medical attention on my ship ASAP.” Hunk argued.

“Hunk, you stay here and fix the pod.” Coran stood, twisting his mustache. “I’m gonna go run some reconnaissance and see if I can come up with a plan to get that crystal.” With that, he left down another tunnel.

On the castle, the mice had succeeded in placing the grenade next to the power crystal the Galra had brought in to power most systems. Then without hesitation, Platt armed the device and all four mice ran as it started beeping, drawing the attention of a nearby guard. He moved around the crystal to find its source and when his eyes fell on the crystal, his face fell and all he could say was “Oh, son of a-” before the grenade literally exploded in his face, destroying the crystal and relieving power from the ship’s main systems, suddenly scaring Yurak as the castle lost power.

“What’s going on?” he asked angrily.

“What’s going on, pal, is we’re taking our ship back,” Shiro smirked as he and the others all stood to protect Lance.

Yurak growled in anger. “Kill them all!” The guards charged the Paladins, but they stood their ground and fought them off as best they could until Yurak’s arm suddenly extended out to grab Keith by the head and hold him up in front of everyone. “Surrender now and return to your positions or I crush this one’s skull.” Suddenly a large blast shot into his shoulder, causing the servo controls for his arm to short out and make him drop Keith. Keith looked and saw the blast came from Lance who had suddenly woken up and shot Yurak essentially point-blank with his sniper rifle. Unfortunately, that was the only shot he managed to get off before he collapsed back to the ground.

But it gave Keith and Shiro an opening to engage with him again, fighting him to a standstill until Sven managed to get in one more lucky chop with his ax straight through his bionic arm, severing it from his body. Then he whacked him away with the flat of his blade to the center of the bridge. “NOW!” The order was quickly followed by a large forcefield rising around Yurak and trapping him. Once trapped, a special Altean tranquilizer was quickly pumped into his area which rendered him unconscious in a matter of minutes.

“King Alfor, find us whatever Balmera Hunk and Coran went to and get us over there. Now!” Shiro ordered. Alfor quickly complied to the best of his abilities, firing the engines and getting the Castle away from the Galra battleship, sending it flying toward the Balmera as fast as it could go on auxiliary power.

Keith quickly moved over to Lance in concern. “Lance, you okay?”

Lance groaned as he looked at his commander. “Remember that party where you helped me try to hook up with Ginger?” He smirked. “Looks like we’re even now,” Keith smirked as well, knowing exactly what party Lance was talking about: the send-off party for the crew of Wolo’s ship; the _GCS Explorer_ the month before. Naturally, Lance had failed to score with Ginger Ellington, but at least he had managed to land on good grounds with her before they shoved off.

On said Balmera, Shay was leaning on a rock watching Hunk put the finishing touches on repairing the pod. “Tell me Hunk. What is the sky like?”

This question confused Hunk as he looked away from his work. “The sky? Wait, you’ve seriously never even seen the sky?”

Shay’s face fell as she shook her head no… before she smiled and started climbing the ship, sitting on the main body. “But at night, when the patrols are less concerned with us, I climb as high as I dare, wondering what it is like.” She gave a single hopeful chuckle. “Lucky are you to fly in this machine to worlds far away from here.”

Hunk smiled as he climbed up and sat next to her. “Well, it doesn’t have to be like this here. You can be free too.”

“Free?” Shay seemed unfamiliar with the word, which confused Hunk.

“Yeah y’know, you can go, be and do whatever you want.” he smiled, putting a hand on Shay’s shoulder. “No Galra masters to tell you or any of your people what to do.”

“That makes no sense.” Shay pondered. “Zarkon controls all the known universe.”

“Only part of it. I’m a citizen of the other ruling faction; the Galactic Coalition.” Hunk smiled. “And even then, he won’t have his territory forever. Ever heard of Voltron?”

Shay gave a dry chuckle. “A child’s tale.”

“No, it’s as real as _this_ ship. I should know.” Hunk smiled and knocked his fist against his chestplate. “This armor? That proves I’m the Yellow Paladin. And I can assure you that Voltron will save your people and all the other races in the universe. He’ll defeat Zarkon.”

“He will?”

“Stop filling my sister’s head with your shadow-show, alien!” Rax growled from nearby with Coran. “The cavern is our home and nothing can change that.” He turned to Hunk who was looking at him in disdain.

“I’m really starting to not like you,” he said simply.

“I can assure you that I share the same emotions,” Rax growled. “Is your vessel repaired that you may depart our presence?”

“Just finished fixin’ her up.” Hunk nodded, closing the access panel he had open earlier. “But we’re not goin’ anywhere without that crystal.” He looked at Coran. “You think of a way to get it yet?”

“Actually, yes.” Coran smiled, suddenly turning purple. “I’m just lucky my race is chameleonic or this plan would never work.” Hunk smiled as he knew where this was going. The next guard to come by the cave was quickly pulled into the shadows and Coran was given his armor and ID code, allowing him to walk to the crystal they needed to find it guarded by two sentries. “Right, you two can take off; I’m taking over your shift.”

“Verify identification code.” One of the sentries ordered.

“Alpha-Klytax-V-Bering-3.” Coran recited.

“Code recognized.” the sentry noted. “Alert; facial recognition system does not match subject with code.” Both sentries quickly raised their blasters. “Verify true identification code or be annihilated.”

“Okay, okay, don’t panic.” Coran held up his hands. “I’ve got it right… HERE!” He quickly ducked and allowed Hunk to jump out and bash both sentries across the cave with his Bayard, destroying them.

“Nice plan.” Hunk smiled as Coran reverted to normal and dropped the armor. He walked over to the large crystal and placed his hands upon it, causing it to glow. “What are you doing? We have to go. Now!”

“I’m not just gonna yank it out of here like some Galra monster,” Coran argued. “Balmera are sacred beings. You have to communicate with them; allow your life-forces to connect. This is the way it is done in _our_ system.”

“Whoa. You really know your Balmeras.” Hunk smiled.

“I pride myself on my galactic knowledge. I’d probably make a good teacher at the Garrison if the Admiral would allow me.” Suddenly the Balmera rumbled and the ground around the crystal receded, causing it to tip over. Coran quickly tried to catch it, but ended up screaming for his troubles as the weight of the crystal broke both his spines. He turned to Hunk with an expression of pure indescribable pain on his face and simply said: “I think I’m broken.” Hunk just sighed as they both heard a mass of blasters cock behind them. Hunk looked and was utterly unsurprised to find a large mass of sentries in the tunnel, aiming blasters at them. “AGH! Okay, guys! Alright, I hate to do this. IDs and blasters, cmon; give ‘em up!” Coran groaned before he fell over in pain. Hunk just gave a nervous smile and raised his hands in surrender.

Later on, Coran had managed to heal from his injury to find both him and Hunk in a security cell. “Ah, quiznak. I can’t believe they saw through my disguise.”

“You didn’t _have_ your disguise, Coran,” Hunk argued. “Besides, it wouldn’t have mattered. Rax was right; without me to pilot the Yellow Lion, the Coalition will never be able to reconquer Galra space.” Suddenly, he heard footsteps on the sandy ground outside the cell. He looked and was very surprised by the being walking up with a sentry’s arm in her hand and Hunk’s Bayard on her belt. “Shay? What’re you doing here?”

Shay didn’t answer and simply allowed the computer to scan the sentry-hand, dropping the force-field of the cell. “Make haste to your pod.” She handed Hunk his Bayard back and dropped the arm. “The crystal is loaded and prepared for departure.”

“What? How’d you get the crystal?” asked Coran.

“I was assigned to take to the upper levels, but instead I took it to our home-cave,” Shay explained. “They will soon discover my ruse no doubt. Time is short; we must hurry.”

“Why are you helping us? You could get in huge trouble for this.” Hunk insisted.

“Because your words touched my heart.” Shay smiled as she placed the Paladin’s hand on her chest, allowing him to feel the beat. “I wish for freedom for all Balmera and all my people. Perhaps the great Voltron can make it so.”

Hunk smiled. “It can. I know it. Let’s go.” Quickly, the three ran from the prison up to Shay’s home cavern… only to find that Rax had brought a squad of sentries, all of which were aiming their blasters at the three.

“No. Brother, why?” Shay asked, betrayed.

“These two bring only harm to our clan.” Rax scowled. “It was the only way to protect you.”

Hunk growled and prepared to activate his hammer, but Shay stopped him. “Hold! The Balmera will aid us.” She placed her hand to the ground and it glowed under her touch, allowing the Balmera to moan once more.

“Shay, don’t!” Rax called in fear as a large chunk from the ceiling fell and crushed most of the guards.

“Run!” Shay yelled. Hunk and Coran didn’t need to be told twice as all three started running for the pod. A few sentries weren’t as badly damaged as the others so they opened fire on the three, but Hunk provided all the cover he could with his plasma-shield.

Suddenly one sentry fired a grappling line at Shay which bound her, stopping her dead in her tracks and sending her to the ground. “Shay! NO!” Hunk yelled in anger, promptly activating his minigun.

“Go, Hunk! Do your duty!” she yelled.

“Let her go!” Hunk yelled, spinning up his gun.

“Hunk, we have to go! Now!” Coran yelled from the pod.

Hunk growled, seeing the additional masses of sentries amassing near the opening of the tunnel, but finally deactivated his gun and jumped into the pod. “I’ll be back for you, Shay! I swear!” Coran quickly sealed the cockpit and took the pod up into the air, flying it out of the cave.

“If we can’t shake these patrols, we might be back sooner than we want!” Coran noted. And he was right; the flack was getting too thick to try and navigate through any longer.

Thankfully, Hunk had an idea. “Engage the Teleduv! Get us out of this star system!”

“Engage Teleduv warp in atmosphere?! Are you crazy?!”

“It got me and the others to Arus, didn’t it?” Hunk smirked.

Coran tried to think of another way, but upon seeing the mass of fighters up ahead, he just gave an angry growl. “Fine. Max Warp! Fire in the hole!” Once the Teleduv was set, Hunk hit the button and the ship shot out of the Balmera’s atmosphere with a massive shockwave, sending Galra ships flying out of the tunnel in a massive explosion as the two in the pod screamed in fear. Once they broke atmosphere, Hunk disengaged the warp and the two cheered in success.

Quickly, Hunk got on the coms and connected to the Castle. “Attention Castle of Lions, this is Hunk and Coran reporting from the Balmera. We’re on our way to you. Please acknowledge.”

The reply was staticky and the one speaking, clearly Shiro, was very weak. “ _Make it quick, Hunk. Life support is depleting. We need… that… crystal…_ ” With that, the connection was terminated.

“Shiro? Shiro!” Hunk growled when he didn’t get an answer. “Punch it, Coran!”

“Punching!” Quickly, the ship was sent flying across the system again until it finally found the castle. Once Coran docked the pod, Hunk quickly lifted the crystal from the pod’s cargo bay and floated it down to the core, locking it into place.

And once it did, all power was restored and everyone on the bridge, who had earlier been unconscious, woke up and started coughing in pain.

Soon enough, Lance was placed in a healing pod in med-bay with everyone watching on. “He should be fine after a day’s rest and recuperation.”

“Nice work, Hunk.” Shiro smiled, patting the large man on the shoulder. “I’ll be sure to put you in for a commendation with Admiral Sanda for this.”

“Thanks, Shiro. But before that, I think I know what our next target should be.” Hunk said with a strong sense of conviction. “The Balmera we got the crystal from.”

Shiro smiled at Hunk. “Then that’s where we’re going. Coran, set a course.”

“Yes, sir.” Coran saluted and left for the bridge.

Keith smirked at Hunk and raised his hand. “Vive la liberté.” (Translation: “Long live freedom.”)

“Vive la liberté!” The others all agreed. And indeed, liberty was on its way.


	22. Castaways

Lance groaned as felt himself slowly rise from the medical bed. He tried to put a hand to his head to try and quiet the pain, but it wouldn’t even move as it was stuck under the physical scanner.

“Easy there, Lance.” Romelle quickly moved to his side to calm him. “You’re still fairly weak from the bomb-blast. How do you feel?”

“Like I’ll be wakin’ up rough for a week. What'd I miss?” Lance groaned, looking around to see the others.

“We can explain everything over a meal.” Allura smiled. “Can you stand?”

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine.” Lance groaned, slipping off the bed as the scanner was raised.

Pidge was confused. “Wait a sec. You just ignored the chance to hit on Allura with that? Who are you and what have you done with Lance McClain?”

“Hey, I think it’s pretty obvious Allura’s got eyes for Keith.” Lance shrugged. “Far be it from me to stand in the way of that.”

That seriously confused Keith (not even noticing Allura’s blush) as he approached as well. “Okay seriously, I’m with Pidge; who are you and where is Lance?”

Lance raised an eyebrow at his commander; he recognized this trope and he knew exactly what to say. “You told Lisa Haruka that you think she’s a better singer than the Lokarian Sirens.”

Keith blushed at that but tried his best to hide it as he moved back. “Yeah, that’s definitely him.”

This made Sven extremely confused and surprised. “Wait-wait, seriously?”

Keith nodded. “Yeah. Lance was the only other one there when I told her that, so that would make him the only one here who would remember it.”

“No-no, I understand that but really? You think Lisa sings better than the Lokarian Sirens?” asked Sven. “The beings who can sing so well that astro-explorers can hear them through the vacuum of space itself and have been known to crash their ships on the Sirens’ asteroids just to get closer to them?”

“You’ve obviously never heard Lisa sing. She’s an _angel_.” Keith emphasized.

“Well okay, so maybe he told you the right thing, but-”

Shiro was quickly interrupted by Lance saying, “You’ve been jealous of Captain Newley since he was given command of the _Explorer_.”

“Yeah okay, that’s him.” Shiro nodded, walking up to the bridge as he ran his bionic hand through his hair.

“I rest my case,” Lance smirked. “So… about that meal... we talkin’ tacos or what?”

Hunk shrugged. “Shredded beef, yeah. You down?”

“Absolutely,” Lance smirked, following the others to the dining area where he chowed down and listened as the others explained what had happened while he was out.

“We’d all be Yurak’s prisoners now if it weren’t for my father.” Allura smiled.

“Well, if it weren’t for Hunk and Coran, it wouldn’t have mattered at all.” Alfor shrugged humbly.

“Man. Thanks, guys.” Lance smiled. “Sounds like the mice did more than you though.”

“Wha-? I bashed Yurak in the face with an ax!” Sven reminded.

“Yeah, apparently after I woke up from a coma and shot his arm off with a sniper blast,” Lance argued, not remembering correctly.

“We had a bonding moment! We evened the score for the Ginger thing!” Keith reminded.

“Oh yeah, that’s right,” Lance smirked. “So what happened to Yurak anyway?”

“He’s frozen in a cryo-pod down below,” Allura explained. “We’ll be keeping him in the castle brig for the time being.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” asked Lance.

“He’s too dangerous. If we let the Coalition take him back to Earth, he might just escape and blow up the Garrison.” Sam shrugged. “Besides, we might be able to get some info about Zarkon’s plans out of him.”

“So… what’s the plan now?” Lance shrugged.

“We get back to the Balmera and save Shay’s people.” Hunk resolved.

“Man, you have seriously lost it for this chick haven’t you?” Sven smirked.

“No, it’s not that Sven. It’s just- Look guys, when you see how the Galra have treated these people and destroyed their home over the last three generations—It’s been so long since they were on the surface they don’t even know what freedom is. Or what the sky looks like. It’s all on us to set this right. This is what being part of the Guardian Force is all about.”

“‘Guardian Force’?” asked Romelle.

“Voltron and V-15 are supposed to be the Guardians of the Universe, aren’t they?” Hunk shrugged. “Makes sense to have a cool team name based on that.”

“Mm, fair point.” Romelle shrugged as well.

“Well, alright then; let’s rollout.” Shiro agreed. “Time to go do some guarding.” With that, everyone returned to the bridge and the ship thundered toward the Balmera.

However, at Galra High Command, Zarkon was in the middle of a meeting with Haggar and one of his commanders. “My lord, if capturing Voltron is to be the Empire’s number-one priority, then I suggest we begin moving the fleet to Yurak’s last reported location of it as soon as possible.”

“Great Emperor, after countless years, I have finally deciphered the ancient texts of the ritual known as the Komar,” Haggar reported. “Soon, we could have more raw Energix at our fingertips than ever before. We must test it before moving the fleet.”

“We have no more time for any more of your magicks, witch.” the commander argued. “We have to move our ships _now_.”

“Voltron is the most powerful weapon ever created, Commander Prorok.” Haggar rebuked. “Your puny ships will never be up to the task of capturing it. We must be well prepared for our next encounter with it.”

Zarkon simply slammed both his arms down on his throne. “Silence!” At this, Prorok quickly bowed as Zarkon opened his eyes. “I know better than any in the Empire the power of Voltron. Haggar has my trust. We will test the Komar before we move the fleet.”

“Yes, master.” Prorok nodded and left, meeting with Thace in the hall on his ship.

“How did it go, Commander?”

“How do you think it went?” Prorok growled. “The witch has the emperor’s ear. He hardly has even the simplest of priorities straight. Keep sending our offer out to any scum between the Luxia system and Balmera X-95-Vox. We will capture Voltron on our own.”

“Yes, Commander.” Thace nodded, moving from his side to his controls.

Meanwhile, on the way to the Balmera, Keith was walking around the training deck alone, looking around. “I know you’re there. I need to talk to you.” He slipped around the same corner as before and suddenly found himself with a familiar black blade to his throat and a firm chestpiece to his back. He smirked. “We should really stop meeting like this, Ulaz. People are going to talk.”

“Save the pleasantries, Black Paladin.” Keith was surprised; Ulaz didn’t have his mask on this time around. “What do you want?”

“You probably heard that I saw your friend on Luxia,” Keith said simply. “Are all you Blades Galra?”

“It’s a long story.” Keith rolled his eyes at this.

“Y’know, this cryptic bullshit’s getting really old. I know you wanna say something, so just come out and say it.” Keith groaned. “I already know that symbol on your sword is Galra for liberty, and I saw what that lieutenant did on Luxia including with his own sword, so just tell me what I want to know.”

“The Order of the Blades is built on secrecy and trust. To violate that would be an insult to our Grandmaster and her teachings.” Ulaz growled, pressing a small piece of paper into Keith’s hand. “If you wish to know more for yourself, have your ship come to these coordinates as soon as possible.” Then as he was moving his hand back, he saw something on the back of Keith’s belt; a small knife. “Where did you get this?”

“What, my knife?” asked Keith. “My dad told me it was a present from my mom before she left us. Why?”

Ulaz shook his head. “No reason. Just be at those coordinates. Do that, and I will reveal myself to you _and_ your fellows.” With that, he disappeared and Keith checked the coordinates. He knew he remembered that system from somewhere, but he figured he’d deal with that later and made his way back to the bridge to find the others discussing something.

“Okay, so when we get to the Balmera, Whaddaya think; should we just roll up and start shooting or should we land and have some sort of public address system, somethin’ like ‘Attention Galra, this is Voltron; surrender or be destroyed’.” He obviously decided that sounded stupid. “No, shooting right?”

“Hunk. Calm down. And yes; shooting.” Sven agreed.

“Ah, cut him some slack Sven: it’s only our second big liberation mission; he’s excited.” Shiro shrugged.

“Excited to see his new _girlfriend_.” Pidge taunted.

Hunk stammered. “She’s not my girlfriend! She’s just a rock-person that I met and I admire very much.”

Keith chuckled. “Yeah, whatever Big Man.” Suddenly, Pidge’s console started beeping.

“Hey Shiro, we have a transmission coming in from the _Explorer_ ,” she said, checking it. “Looks like Captain Newley wants to talk to you.”

Shiro rolled his eyes at this but stepped forward anyway. “Patch it in.”

With that, Pidge brought up the hard-light holo-projection of a young Frenchman roughly Shiro’s age. “ _Shiro!_ ” he smiled.

“Captain Newley.” Shiro saluted.

The captain chuckled and his hologram walked forward. “ _Cmon man, I didn’t hail you from Andromeda’s Gamma Quadrant just for formalities._ ” He smiled and shook his friend’s robotic hand. “ _It’s good to see you again, Takashi._ ”

“Yeah, you too Rick,” Shiro smirked. “How long’s it been since _Explorer_ put out; three weeks, a month?”

“ _A month, yeah._ ” Rick smiled. “ _And so far, we’ve already found five planets and twelve moons available for colonization. Not to mention about thirty asteroids._ ”

“Wow, that’s actually pretty impressive.” Pidge smiled before something struck her. “Hey, how’s Chip doing lately?”

Rick smirked at the young Paladin. “ _He’s doing great, Katie. A captain couldn’t ask for a better com-o._ ” He turned back to Shiro. “ _Speaking of which, that’s actually what I called to talk to you about. Chip picked up a distress beacon emanating from a moon near your location. I was wondering if you could go check it out for me._ ”

“Sure thing, Rick. After all, I still owe ya for the help you gave me at the Garrison.” Shiro smirked.

“ _Thanks, Takashi. I knew I could count on you. Coordinates transmitted._ Explorer _out._ ” With that, the hologram disappeared and the coordinates popped up on Pidge’s computer.

“Wonder who it is.” Lance shrugged.

“Whoever it is, they’re gonna have to wait.” Hunk said with a conviction. “The Balmera has first priority; we can check back on them when we’re done.”

“Whoa-whoa-whoa, hold the phone. Who died and put you in charge?” asked Keith.

“The Paladin Code explicitly states that we must help all those in need.” Alfor reminded. “We will investigate this distress signal first, then we leave for the Balmera.”

Hunk growled and crossed his arms. “Fine.” he relented.

“Adjusting course.” Coran quickly shifted the helm so the ship was bound for the moon.

Three beings were huddled around a small fire near their shuttle when the castle flew in, kicking up an intense wind. “Attention damaged craft. This is Paladin Keith Kogane of Voltron, here to offer support.” With that, the castle carefully filled upright to land on the planet.

One of the crewmembers; a Teqqan, let out an impressed whistle as he saw the great structure. “Nice boat.”

Once the castle landed, Shiro and the Paladins moved together. “Sam, you and Coran stay here and try your best to make sure that Yurak didn’t leave behind any other surprises. We’ll go meet our new hosts.”

“You got it, Shiro.” Sam nodded as he moved to the console. The crew jettisoned down to the surface in a special landing craft with Romelle where they met the three.

The Teqqan smiled as he walked over with a limp. “You guys don’t know how happy we are to see some friendly faces. Most folks in this sector don’t wanna get tangled up with anyone on the run from the imperial armada.”

“So you guys are fighting the Galra?” asked Keith.

The Teqqan chuckled. “Well, I don’t think Zarkon is exactly shaking in his boots at the thought of us but yeah; we do what we can. Name’s Rolo. This is my girl Nyma and our astro-cyber Beezer.”

“Hi.” Nyma was a lovely young Miranian who instantly drew Lance’s attention, while Beezer was an advanced-looking droid with enough tech clearly in him to get Pidge intrigued.

“Sweet robot.” she smiled.

“Howdy sweetheart. Name’s Lance.”

Ignoring that… “So what happened to you guys? Firefight?” asked Shiro.

Rolo gave a dry chuckle. “That’d mean we’d have put up a fight. But yeah; we’ve really been through it with the empire. Parts are hard to come by these days, to say the least. Thankfully, we were able to limp out to this moon sometime last week. If you guys didn’t pick up our SOS, we’d probably be stranded here until we were dead.”

“No need to worry about that.” Allura smiled, removing her helmet. “We’re more than happy to help. I am Princess Allura of Altea, and from now on, you and those like you will not be alone in your fight against the Galra. You will have the Paladins of Voltron by your side.”

Rolo seemed impressed to start… but then he looked back at Lance and Pidge goofing around. “Okay…”

“I don’t think they’ve heard of him,” Sven whispered.

“Well, it _has_ been a hundred years.” Keith shrugged.

“Voltron? Five giant robot lions that combine into this one giant robot knight? Ring any bells?” asked Lance.

Rolo shrugged. “Can’t say it does. Sounds impressive though. Love to see it. Or- or him. Them?”

“We’ll worry about pronouns later.” Hunk resolved. “Let’s just get to work on your ship. I’m pretty sure we’ve all got places to be.”

“Sounds good.” Rolo nodded before he cringed and gripped his leg. “Uh, sorry. I’m fine.”

“Somehow I doubt that.” Romelle raised an eyebrow. “Let me take a look.”

“In a sec.” Rolo agreed, opening the engine compartment of his ship. “Basically the whole flaxum assembly is shot.” He looked in wonder up at the castle. “I don’t know what kinda spare parts you keep in this rig of yours. Never seen anything like it myself.”

“I’m sure we can get you back up and running,” Allura reassured. “Just give us a list of what you need. Hunk, Coran can show you where to find it.”

“Alright.”

“Uh, we’ll go with you.” Rolo offered. “Wouldn’t want you to have to carry that sorta load yourself. Cmon, guys.” Nyma and Beezer nearly went after Rolo to the Castle, but Hunk stopped them.

“Uh-uh. Don’t think so, pal. You guys stay here.” he said firmly.

“Hunk cmon man, show some tact.” Sven shrugged.

“Yeah, cmon dude, there are ladies present,” Lance smirked at Nyma, making her smile.

“Oh, I’m sorry, but does anyone remember what happened last time we had a security breach?” asked Hunk. “Someone kinda blew up the power core. Remember Lance? You almost died?”

“Oh. Right.” Lance remembered.

“Hunk’s right.” Shiro agreed. “Sorry, but we can’t take any chances. No hard feelings.”

“Hey, don’t worry. I don’t take it personal.” Rolo retrieved a printed-out list from a slot in Beezer’s chestplate and handed it to Hunk. “That’s just the way it is out here; you gotta look out for your own. You’re doin a good job, big guy.”

“Yeah. Thanks.” Hunk said apprehensively. Soon enough, the others were gathered around the fire Rolo had struck near the ship.

“My family were merchants, flying around this galaxy trading whatever they had with whoever they could… until they tried to fence some illegal Galra tech.” Rolo shrugged. “They enslaved us all to work for ‘em and fight in Zarkon’s arena. Never saw most of my family again. Course, I managed to escape but…” He pulled up his pant leg to reveal his left leg was a Galran prosthetic. “Not before I lost something.”

“Trust me, man; I feel your pain.” Shiro nodded, clenching his bionic fist. Romelle carefully moved to inspect Rolo’s leg to see if it was malfunctioning just as Hunk moved over with a hover trolley of parts.

“Well, I hope there’s some stuff in here that’ll work.” he groaned, surprised by the look Rolo was giving him. “Y’know, to get your ship moving.”

“Great. Thanks.” Rolo said before suddenly cringing. “OW!”

“Sorry.” Romelle apologized profusely.

“So what can you tell us about Zarkon’s forces?” asked Allura. “Where is his main fleet concentrated?”

“Well, the main command ship sits in orbit of Planet Korrinoth in the Denubian Galaxy,” Rolo explained. “He and his highest-ranking men mostly call the shots from there and have the grunts do the work, depending on who’s closest. This sector’s the territory of a real nasty bugger named Prorok, one of the main sub-commanders under Zarkon’s right-hand man Yurak.”

“Yeah, we’ve met him; not a fan.” Keith scowled, referring to Yurak.

“How far are we from Korrinoth?” asked Shiro.

“We’re way out in the boonies.” Rolo shrugged.

“Hey, sorry to interrupt, but I think you guys are keeping Rolo from his work.” Hunk said impatiently. Rolo raised an eyebrow. “It’s just that we’re kinda in a hurry. A Balmeran named Shay saved my life and I promised her I’d come back and return the favor for her people. You understand.”

“Absolutely.” Rolo nodded, looking at Romelle. “You about done down there, sweetcheeks?”

“Just finished.” Romelle nodded as she stood up. “Just a minor glitch in the neural interface.” Rolo smiled and moved over to the dolly to inspect the parts.

Which gave Keith time to talk to Hunk. “Dude listen; we’re gonna get going soon but I think Rolo might have some important intel we could use.”

“Not for nothin Keith, but I don’t trust this guy as far as I can spit.” Hunk scowled. “I say we just leave him with the parts and say ‘adios amigo’.”

“Hey, bud! Sorry to interrupt but do you think you could hunt down a length of thermal piping?” asked Rolo. “Bout, uh… bout forearm length?”

Hunk sighed. “Gimme a minute.” Keith smiled as he walked over to Rolo.

“So are there more freedom fighters like you? Any sort of organized resistance against the empire?” he asked.

Rolo shrugged. “Only those who haven’t been colonized yet, or the lucky few, like me, who managed to get loose somehow.”

“Well don’t worry; the Coalition’s gonna change all that.” Keith nodded.

“Good to hear. But I gotta warn ya; it’s pretty nasty out there.” Rolo shrugged. “You don’t know what you’re up against.”

“We’ve got a pretty good idea,” Shiro smirked.

Meanwhile (surprising no one), Lance was getting his flirt on with Nyma. “I mean, so far there are only six Paladins and five Lions in the whole universe, so yeah; I guess you could say we’re a pretty big deal.”

“So wait, the Lions are ships? Are they, like, flying statues you ride on or something?” asked Nyma.

“Well, sorta ships but they have their own minds and personalities, not to mention some awesome weaponry,” Lance smirked. “And uh, not to brag or anything but Red? He’s the fastest of the bunch. Really, the whole castle is just in _sane_. I wish you guys could see it.”

“Mm, yeah. Too bad we’re not allowed in.” Nyma shrugged. “I would love a tour from one of you Paladins. But I guess the yellow one is in charge, right? You have to obey _his_ orders?”

“Pfft. What, Hunk? Nah, he’s Voltron’s left leg.” Lance smirked. “I’m the right hand, literally. I don’t have to listen to him. Cmon, let’s go.” Nyma giggled as Lance led her up to the castle.

Meanwhile, Sven was looking around the ship when he saw a strange frequency on the comlink. He was about to investigate when he heard Beezer enter the ship. Quickly, he hid in one of the small compartments on the bridge as Beezer turned on the mysterious frequency… to reveal the face of a Galra.

“ _This is Commander Prorok of the Galra Empire,_ ” he said. “ _Who is speaking?_ ”

“My owners have me classified as Beezer.” the droid said. “I bear a message for Emperor Zarkon; my crew is on the moon of Krondal and the Castle of Voltron is here… as well as Princess Allura. We wish to organize an exchange; them for a full pardon. You see, my crew has found themselves in possession of stolen Galra technology.”

“ _A full pardon will be arranged immediately,_ ” Prorok said in understanding. “ _Anything else?_ ”

“The reward. In full.”

“ _Easily done._ ” With that, the connection was terminated.

On Prorok’s ship, he turned to Thace. “Send the nearest fighter squadron to the area of the transmission. I’m not trusting some bounty hunter with our prize.”

“Yes, sir.” Thace saluted.

Meanwhile, Beezer had left the bridge, followed by Sven who made it out just in time to see Lance about to open the landing craft. With that, he quickly activated his Bayard’s freeze ray and aimed it at Beezer.

“Lance, do not open that door!” he yelled.

Lance was surprised and confused. “Whoa! Sven, what’s going on?”

“I was about to ask the same thing,” said Keith.

“Ask Pidge’s new best friend here,” Sven growled. “He just sold us out to the Empire for a clean slate for the crew.”

“Wait, what?” Lance suddenly found himself in a headlock with Nyma holding a blaster to his head.

“Whoa!” Keith quickly understood the gravity of this situation and pulled his own Bayard, until Rolo kicked Hunk in the gut and jumped to hold a knife to Allura’s neck. “Let her go!”

“Sorry pal. It’s just the way things are out here.” Rolo smirked. “Lotor needs a future Empress and we need to not be the number one target on Zarkon’s hit-list. Everybody’s in this life for themselves. I learned that a long time ago.” Then he saw Hunk starting to get up, so Rolo quickly blasted him in the shoulder to keep him down. “Thanks for fixin’ her up Hunk. Oughtta make for a nice smooth ride through to Galra Central.” Once he was on-board, he tossed Allura to the wall which immediately deployed energy shackles, keeping her in place. “Cmon guys, let’s go!” Nyma quickly gut-punched Lance and ran to the ship, knocking Sven away from Beezer just long enough for all three of them to make it to the ship and take off.

“Ugh. Okay, I never trusted those guys. Not even from the beginning.” Hunk said and continued complaining as he and the others zip-lined to their Lions. “I mean, at first it was just a gut feeling, y’know, but when I was replacing that thermal pipe, the pipe was cracked, but none of the hardware around it was damaged.”

“Okay, we get it.” Keith groaned.

“I mean if the thermal pipe is cracked then obviously hello; the entire assembly should be roasted.”

“Okay. We get it.” Pidge groaned.

“We should’ve had to replace the entire undercarriage of that reactor, so right then I was like positive; foul play.”

“OKAY! WE GET IT!” everyone yelled.

“ _I mean, nice using your engineer’s head and all Hunk, but tone the hell down,_ ” said Sam.

“Let’s move! We’ve gotta get Allura outta there now.” Keith ordered as the four Lions deployed after Rolo.

Speaking of whom, he was just putting his feet up on the console for a long ride. “Y’know, I almost feel sorry fer your friends, princess. Seemed like a nice bunch ‘a guys.”

“If you’re feeling guilty, you can turn _yourself_ in.” Nyma rolled her eyes. “Stealing from the empire carries a life sentence, y'know.”

“Well… I’m not _that_ sorry.” Rolo shrugged. Finally, he grew tired of the sounds of Allura struggling against her bonds and turned to face her with a sigh. “Look, sweetheart, just save your energy. You’re gonna need it for marrying Lotor.”

“Hardly likely,” Allura growled. “My fellow Paladins will come for me.”

“Oh yeah? And what’re they gonna do? They can’t be crazy enough to shoot at us with you on-board.” Rolo smirked.

“ _You obviously haven’t met me yet._ ” Keith’s voice on the coms scared Rolo and his whole crew, as did the rain of plasma fire around the ship.

“Son of a bitch!” Rolo growled and he grabbed the manual controls.

Allura chuckled. “Are you joking? There’s no way you’ll be able to outrun the Voltron Lions.”

“Not in the open, at least.” Rolo agreed. “Thankfully, I don’t need to; the Zorlar asteroid field is just up ahead and I know it like the back of my hand.” With that, he quickly flew into the field, weaving around the asteroids with much trouble, while the Lions were left at the entrance.

“Great. We’re never gonna get through this field.” Pidge groaned.

“Maybe I can just bash through.” Hunk theorized and sent Yellow flying to the nearest asteroid, clearly hoping to smash his way through it, but instead, he just started the asteroids bashing into each other. “Nope! That was dumb! That was a dumb idea!”

“Lance, Red’s the only Lion who could possibly navigate this field safely.” Keith resolved. “Get in there and flush them out. We’ll track them and find a way around the field.”

“Roger that. See you on the other side.” Lance smirked as he flew into the field full-tilt. “Whoo! Ha-ha!”

The others were just about to take off around the field when a bright red star-jet flew into the field at incredibly high speeds. “Whoa! Who was that?!”

“ _Just stand back boys. I got this._ ” This voice was a serious surprise to the others, but it would be even more of one to Lance once they met.

Speaking of which, Lance had just slipped Red between two large asteroids until he was right on the tail of Rolo’s ship. “This kid can flat-out fly,” Rolo said impressed. “Get on the guns. Blast this poozer out of the sky.”

“Roger.” Nyma nodded and deployed two plasma turrets, which started firing on the Red Lion. Lance smirked and quickly pulled a few rolls to dodge them, suddenly making way for this strange jet to fly through.

“Whoa. What the heck?”

“ _I can handle this Lance. Just sit back and enjoy the fireworks._ ”

“No way,” Lance said with a surprised smirk. “Ginger?” And indeed, the visual com brought up a young blonde girl with blue eyes in a pilot’s suit. The same one Lance had tried to hook up with at the _Explorer_ ’s send-off party.

“ _Been a long time, hotshot,_ ” she smirked. “ _Stand back; I got this._ ”

“Hang on; Allura’s on that ship. Just wing ‘em, okay?” Lance asked.

“ _Understood._ ” Ginger nodded, firing on the enemy turrets and knocking them out of commission.

“Turrets are offline!” Nyma yelled.

“Hang onto yer butts; we’re gettin’ outta here!” Rolo smirked as he hit full throttle.

Ginger gave a chuckle. “Oh, you think you can get away from me, pal? Well, think again!” With that, she hit full throttle too and shot after Rolo like a MAC round, getting her just close enough to aim a small single-shot gun at one of the engines. “Boom.” With a twitch, the gun fired and shot straight through the engine, sending the ship spiraling out of control until Lance quickly landed Red on the roof and fired his retro-boosters to stabilize the ship… just in time for the other three Lions to arrive.

Keith quickly hailed Rolo’s craft with a smirk. “ _We’re taking you back to the moon now._ ”

And indeed they did; on the other side of the moon, Red had set the ship down and the Paladins were keeping watch of the crew while Pidge freed Allura. “Since your ship _actually_ doesn’t work now, you’ll have to wait here for a rescue,” said Keith. “We’ve alerted the _Wellington_ from the Coalition fleet and they should be here in about another week.”

“Well, I know it ain’t much but thanks for sparing our lives.” Rolo shrugged.

“We didn’t spare anything worth sparing unless you guys get your priorities straight. Selling out the universe to Zarkon for a quick few credits?” Shiro asked and scoffed. “That’s blood-money, pal. Maybe your family’s blood.”

“Well, now that that’s dealt with, I say we get back to the castle and get to the Balmera.” Hunk resolved.

“Agreed. Let’s go.” Keith nodded.

“Look, I know you probably don’t believe me, but I hope you guys really do stop Zarkon,” Rolo said hopefully. “It’s a lifetime of fighting him that’s led me to where I am now.”

Shiro nodded and the whole crew left for the castle, where Ginger was still parked. The whole crew smiled and whooped as they hugged their old friend until Lance got interested in her ship. “Gotta admit, Ginger; this is a pretty sick ride.”

“Thanks.” she smiled. “Commander Hawkins is calling her the Falcon VT Fighter. But her? Well, she calls herself V-15 Unit 5.”

“Wait-wait-wait, V-15? You already made a ship out of the Voltonium from Luxia?” asked Hunk.

“Five actually. The Olkari at the Garrison did most of the actual construction, I just drive this one.” Ginger shrugged.

Keith chuckled. “Leave it to the explorers with god-complexes to be humble.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Ginger.

“Aw cmon Ginger, you heard what Marvin said before you guys left Earth; terraforming makes a man feel like a god,” Keith smirked. “Anyway, we’ll let you guys know where and when we find more Voltonium. But first, we’ve got a Balmera to go save.”

“Understood. I’ll see you round.” Ginger smiled as she climbed back into the fighter’s cockpit. “Oh, and Keith? Lisa says hi.” With that, she flew off leaving Allura confused but Keith with a smile.

“What was that about?” she asked.

Keith shrugged. “Eh. Few weeks before _Explorer_ left Earth, Lisa and I kinda had a thing going on. Wasn’t serious or anything; just hanging out in training, a few meals together, but we broke it off on good terms when she was picked for the ship. Nothing too major. Now cmon, let’s get going.”

Allura shrugged and the crew left for the ship… unknown of the black magic that brewed a few planets away from Korrinoth. “Let the ritual begin,” Haggar ordered, and her druids weaved their magic around the large monolithic structure in the center of the chamber, filling it with a strange energy. Haggar smiled at her success. “Lord… we have succeeded.”

“Excellent work, Haggar.” Zarkon smiled. “With this power, the Galra will be unstoppable. Even the great Voltron will not be able to stand against us.” He started giving a cruel chuckle, along with Haggar, which soon grew into full-fledged evil cackling as the command ship flew away… leaving a dead planet in its wake.


	23. Crystal Tears

The castle closed in on the Balmera as the whole crew planned for the battle. “So what’s our plan here?” asked Lance. “Do we just go in there and ‘pyow, pyow, pyow!’ and free all the prisoners?”

“What was that noise?” Sven raised an eyebrow.

“Laser guns,” Lance smirked.

“No-no-no, I think you mean ‘ba-kow, ba-kow, ba-kow!’” Hunk mimed like a turret before finally charging up one last shot. “‘Ba-koo’.”

“That was fireworks.” Lance groaned.

“Technically, it’s more like ‘pa-chyew, pa-chyew, pa-chyew!’” Pidge said matter-of-factly.

“Okay, enough with the bad sound effects, cadets,” Shiro ordered before he opened his hand blaster. “Besides, it’s more like ‘blam, blam, blam!’”

“Are you kidding me?!” Sven.

“You’re crazy.” Pidge.

“No way!” Lance.

“Ah- wrong!” Hunk.

“Ladies! Focus!” Keith ordered. “Let’s get serious here, okay?”

“Besides, we can’t just shoot at the Galra.” Hunk reminded. “This Balmera thing; it’s, like, alive. And from what we’ve seen, it’s not doin’ too hot.”

“Yes. It’s a travesty what Zarkon is doing to this great beast.” Alfor agreed. “Stealing its crystals, its very life-force, without ever performing the sacred rejuvenation ceremonies to pay it back.”

“After I saw Shay’s people enslaved like this, it made me realize just how cruel the Galra really are.” Hunk clenched his fist in anger. “And we’re the only ones in the universe that can stop ‘em.”

“Okay, so we can’t just go in guns a-blazin’.” Keith still hadn’t brought up Ulaz to anyone, but he had his priorities straight; liberate the Balmera first, then worry about allies. “Plan B; we figure out how to draw the Galra to the surface and take them down up there.”

“I think I have an idea on that front,” Sven said contemplatively. “If we attack these big mining rigs on the surface, the Galra will have to come out to defend it. Then we destroy them, head down the tunnels: badda-bing, badda-boom; Voltron saves the day.”

“They’ll probably have back-up in the tunnels,” Shiro noted. “How will we know how many there are?”

“Simple. BLIP sensors.” Allura smiled, bringing up a hologram of one of the small probes. Biothermal Life Indicator Point technology was one of the most important pieces of technology the Alteans had brought to Earth twenty-three years ago and it had largely become one of the most useful devices in the universe. “One of you will need to fly around the Balmera and drop sensors into the tunnels on each side. Then we’ll be able to track them down easily.”

“Dibs!” Pidge yelled. “I just installed a cloaking device on the Green Lion.”

“Cloaking? Doesn’t that violate the Coalition’s treaty with the Rigel system?” asked Melenor.

Pidge shrugged. “Only when we're in Coalition space, which we are decidedly not right now.”

Coran highlighted a large structure on the northern part of the Balmera. “There’s the main power generator. Down that, and it should be a severe blow to their operations.”

“We’ll keep the Castle in orbit and provide tactical support,” Shiro said, bringing up a display. “After Yurak’s crystal energy got into the system, we’re not gonna be much help in a fight.”

“Alright, I’ll down the generator.” Keith nodded. “Sven, you ride with Allura. Her, Lance and Hunk will be downing all these big mining rigs.”

“Yeah! Okay, let’s do this! Let’s go kick some Galra ass!” Hunk bellowed happily. With that, all the Paladins quickly dispatched to their Lions and launched through the atmosphere… at which point the Galra installations started firing on them.

“Alright people, you all know your assignments! Remember; the Balmera is a living being, so only lock targeting onto the Galran installations and not the surface!” Keith ordered. “Scramble!”

With that, all Lions scattered in every direction. “Engaging cloak,” Pidge smirked as the Green Lion disappeared, dropping BLIP sensors into every vertical tunnel on the Balmera.

Lance, Allura, and Sven were in the middle of an epic blaster-fight with the AA guns on the surface while Hunk rammed all the columns off their supports as Keith watched the generator. “Okay big guy, how do we take this freakin’ thing down?” The Black Lion growled in response to its Paladin, telling him everything he needed to hear. “Nice plan. Alright, form Jaw-Blade!” At this order, a large energy blade resembling a Klingon bat’leth from _Star Trek_ activated in the Black Lion’s mouth, allowing Keith to run a simple fly-by, slashing every column on the generator into exploding.

“ _All sensors delivered._ ” Pidge reported.

“Fast work, Pidge.” Shiro complimented. “Bring up the sensor feed.” Coran quickly did so, allowing the bridge crew to see a perfect map of the tunnels.

Finally, a large cannon on the generator was still active and was causing some major problems for the Paladins. “I have this covered!” Allura reported, firing a rapid-fire stream of blasts out of the Blue Lion’s tail, but it did little else than dent the cannon, which maintained fire.

“Hang on, I got this!” Lance yelled as he flew in. “I’ve always wanted to try this out.” He pressed one button on the display which blasted a massive stream of heat out of the Lion’s mouth, melting the supports of the cannon. “Whoo! That was awesome!” Then the cannon started tipping and falling toward the surface. “Oh shit.”

“Whoa! Careful, we can’t let this thing hurt the Balmera!” Hunk yelled, using Yellow’s armor and boosters to hold the cannon steady.

“I got this.” Sven resolved, stepping back in the Blue Lion’s cockpit. “Allura, open the mouth and run a fly-by.”

“Understood.” Allura quickly did so, allowing Sven to hang by the tooth on the Lion’s lower jaw and fire his Bayard’s freeze-ray at the structure, freezing it in place.

“Aw yeah! Knew that’d work.” The Lion closed its mouth and Sven was pulled back into the cockpit, where he promptly high-fived with Allura as the Lions all landed on Sven’s handiwork.

“Nice work, team!” Keith smiled. “Now let’s get ready to end this.” Unfortunately, even after waiting a few minutes, the Galra wouldn’t emerge.

“Okay, I’m bored.” Lance sulked. “Where is everybody?!”

“Yeah, this is weird. I remember seeing a lot of Galra guys down in the mines.” Hunk noted.

“ _I think I have your answer, Lance,_ ” Shiro replied. “ _We just found a hanger full of fighters below the surface. Somebody has to take those out before they can launch._ ”

“Ugh. They’re luring us in, but we have no choice.” Keith groaned. “Lance, you’re with me; we’ll head to the hangar and lock it down. Hunk and Sven, you’ll lead the prison-break and get Shay and the others out. Pidge and Allura, you track down the sentries. We’ll rally on the surface once we’re done.”

Everyone replied affirmatively and quickly moved, leaving their Lions in the bottoms of the mining pits with particle barriers around them as they shot into the tunnels on their Lion Speeders.

On Prorok’s ship, Thace approached him on the bridge and saluted. “Commander, we have received word from the sentries on Balmera X-95-Vox. Our sources were right; Voltron _is_ there.”

“Excellent. Everything is proceeding as planned.” Prorok smiled.

“How do you wish to proceed, sir? Shall we inform the emperor?”

“I will do that. Contact Sub-commander Ylvik; his fleet is awaiting our go. Give it to him.”

“Vrepit Sa, sir.” Thace saluted.

Down in the tunnels, Lance and Keith had just reached the hangar and were scanning it with the camera-systems in their HUDs. “Looks like it’s only being guarded by a few sentries,” Keith smirked, pulling out a grenade. “And if I’m right, we blow one of those ships, we trigger a domino-effect which blows them all.”

“Whoa-whoa-whoa, cool your jets, Bazooka Joe!” Lance said, pulling his commander back. “Didn’t you pay attention in class? These Balmeras are sensitive animals.”

Keith smirked. “ _You’re_ talking to _me_ about paying attention in class? Never thought I’d see the day.” He cleared his throat. “But yeah.”

“Yeah, which means we can’t just run through blowing stuff up like a psychopath.” Lance raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, and I suppose you’ve got a better idea, Han Solo?” asked Keith.

“As a matter of fact, I do.” Lance smiled, pointing to the command chamber. “We sneak into the control room and seal the bay-doors. We do that and the fighters will have nowhere to launch to.”

“That-!” Keith quickly realized it and said “… actually _is_ a better idea.”

“Well, I _am_ your right hand,” Lance smirked. “Cmon, let’s go.” The two quickly slid down the slope to one of the over-hanging rafters of the hangar to the control room.

Meanwhile… “Hey Coran, where are we?” Hunk and Sven were still bound for the prison-block. “All these tunnels look the same; I can’t remember where the prison is.”

“ _You’re on the right track._ ” Coran nodded. “ _Take a right at the next junction. Once there, you’ll have to disable the energy gates. Be careful though; looks like they’re heavily guarded._ ”

“Acknowledged.” Sven nodded as the two quickly took the turn.

Back in the hangar, Lance and Keith were wandering around on the top of the control room, looking for the control panel. “No-no, it’s over here,” Lance whispered.

“I know. What I’m doing.” Keith stabbed his sword through the roof and cut a circle into the metal, sending it falling directly onto the sentry at the control panel.

Lance dropped down first, blaster in-hand to check the area. “Clear.” At this, Keith quickly dropped down. “Watch for the sentries; I’ll see if this place has some sort of barn-door protocol.” Keith moved to the door, sword at the ready to take down any enemies. But finally, Lance just groaned as he moved away from the control panel. “I have no idea what I’m doing here. It’s all Galra gibberish and for some reason, my helmet doesn’t translate it.”

“Alright, swap out; lemme see.” Keith moved over to the panel as Lance watched the door with his sniper rifle. “Okay, let’s see… looks like everything points to… this.” Keith placed his hand on the handprint at the top of the control panel, which inexplicably worked and the whole hangar was sealed with metal doors, even the ceiling.

“Whoa! How’d you know that would work?” asked Lance.

“I didn’t. I’m just surprised the Galra didn’t code this panel only for Galra or Drule bio-rhythms.” Keith shrugged. But then his helmet showed him something strange; it _was_ coded that way, which didn’t make any sense.

Hunk and Sven were swiftly closing on the prison area until Sven saw a large set of energy gates… surrounded by sentries out in the open, which all quickly opened fire. Thankfully, the speeders were armored enough for it to not make much difference. Sven smirked. “You thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’, big guy?”

“Oh yeah.” Hunk smirked right back. The Paladins had noticed the Bayard locks in their speeders the last time they had used them and once Hunk and Sven locked their Bayards in, the speeders gained small chain-guns and twin freeze-rays respectively, which the two then used to mow the sentries down, even running over a few of them.

Sven whooped as he jumped out, ax ready for any stragglers, but Hunk just looked around and pulled a sentry’s arm off his speeder’s hood. “That was _way_ too easy. I’ve definitely got a bad feeling about this.”

“Just get us in.” Sven shrugged. “I’ll cover you.”

Hunk quickly complied and used the sentry’s arm to open the gates, allowing the two to run down the tunnel to the cells where, once unlocked, they found Shay’s family, a bit roughed-up, but otherwise none the worse for wear.

“Hunk. You have returned.” her father smiled.

“I promised I would.” Hunk smiled. “This is Sven, a fellow Paladin. The others are here too, and we’re here to help.” Then he looked around and was confused. “Wait a sec. Where’s Shay?”

“Our life may not have been perfect, but at least our family was whole,” Rax growled bitterly. “Your arrival has left us imprisoned and torn apart.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Sven.

“As soon as your attack began, they took Shay away to the core of the Balmera.” Rax’s explanation left Hunk agape in fear. “For all we know, she could be gone for good.”

Sven scowled and got on the coms. “Houston, we have a problem.”

“ _You’ve always wanted to say that, haven’t you?_ ” asked Sam.

“Meh yeah, kinda.” Sven shrugged.

“ _Well, you’re right; all the troops left on the Balmera are heading down toward the center,_ ” Shiro noted, watching the sensor display.

“They must be headed for the core. That’s where they’re holding Shay.” Hunk said, moving back to his speeder before looking back at her family. “I’ll get her back, I promise.”

Keith growled. “They’re leading us into an ambush, but we have no choice if we wanna save Shay. We’ll have to follow them. Pidge, Allura, rally at the core. I think we’re gonna need all hands on deck for this firefight. Lance and I will meet you there.”

“ _Ten-four. On our way._ ” Pidge replied. Once he sent that order out, Keith stabbed the control panel and ran out with Lance, who then promptly blasted the door controls.

Allura and Pidge had encountered an area too narrow for the speeders and ran further down on foot until a large tremor knocked Allura to the ground. Pidge quickly found a dial on her Bayard’s shuriken launcher and fired out a star with a cable attached, which she used to pull Allura just out of the way of falling material. “All hands, be advised; the Balmera’s structural integrity is nearly compromised.”

“Roger that,” Keith noted as he and Lance rounded a corner… to a tunnel filled with sentries. “Down!” He quickly pushed Lance to one side as he dodged to the other side just before the sentries opened fire, only succeeding in damaging the wall, making the Balmera wail. “This flack is destroying the Balmera. We’ve gotta do something.”

Lance grunted as one blast shot some dust onto his visor. “Well, we can’t shoot back. Even with my anti-Stormtrooper aim, it’ll just make it worse.” Then he smirked as he realized something. “I got it. Let’s go melee.”

Keith smirked. “Nice plan.” Quickly, they both produced their Bayards’ melee-modes and projected their holo-shields. Once that was done, they charged the sentries and slashed them up. One nearly shot Lance in the back of the head, but one swift move from Keith and it had a knife in its face-plate.

“Whoa! Nice save, man.” Lance smirked as Keith retrieved his knife. “Where’d you get that?”

“It was a gift,” Keith replied vaguely before standing. “Let’s keep moving.”

Hunk and Sven roared in rage as they approached the core to find a very familiar Balmeran hung from the roof by her wrists, gagged and in ragged underclothing with fresh scars all over her body. “Shay! Oh, thank god!” Hunk yelled. Shay tried to say something, but her gag obviously kept it from getting out.

“Hold still,” Sven ordered, and with one pull from the icicle-launcher on his Bayard, Shay swiftly fell into Hunk’s arms, allowing him to set her gently down and for her to remove the gag just as the others arrived.

“What the-? Where are all the troops?” asked Keith, now getting a bit angry. “If this is an ambush, they should be here waiting for us.” Suddenly, all the doors to the core slammed shut, locking everyone inside.

“Not an ambush. More like a trap.” Sven noticed.

“Whatever it is, don’t lower your guard.” Lance resolved, rifle-ready.

“The Galra…” Shay groaned in pain from her scars. “They learned of your return here.”

“How is that possible?” asked Pidge.

“I know not, but they set this trap specially for you. I was the bait.” Shay groaned.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Sven said in confusion. “Who could’ve possibly known we were here to save Shay?”

Hunk clenched his fist around the handle of his gun. “Rolo. Those traitors must’ve told Prorok.”

“We can make them pay for this later. Right now we have to figure out how to get out of here.” Keith resolved. “Any ideas?”

“Easy. We’ve got a giant spaceship in orbit.” Lance smirked as he got on the coms. “Hey Coran, think you can come get us out of here?”

“How do you expect him to do that, genius?” asked Pidge.

“I dunno, maybe they’ve got transporter pads on that thing or something.” Lance shrugged.

“We don’t,” Allura said bluntly.

“They don’t,” Keith repeated.

“I know. I heard.” Lance growled.

“ _Kinda busy right now, Lance!_ ” Shiro yelled over the coms before grunting as he was knocked to the floor. “We’re completely surrounded by fighters and we’re taking heavy flack. Sam, status report.”

“The particle barrier is holding, but I don’t think it’s got much time left,” he reported.

“Understood. Keith, you’ve gotta get your team out as soon as possible!” Shiro ordered.

“This is it! We’re gonna die down here!” Lance moped. “I can say goodbye to that parade!”

“Dude, what is it with you and getting parades in your honor?!” asked Hunk.

“Not the number-one issue right now, Hunk. Although admittedly still interesting.” Keith relented. “We’ll be up as soon as we can, Shiro.” He turned to his fellow Paladins. “Suggestions, anyone? I’m all ears.”

“Perhaps my people can help,” suggested Shay, placing her hand on the large orb in the center of the chamber, clearly the Balmera’s heart. “This is how my people communicate over great distances; the Balmera senses our vibrations and sends a message to those in the tunnels.”

“Are you sure someone will be able to hear your… hand… from all the way down here?” asked Sven.

“They will hear. The Balmera will make it so.” Shay said assuredly. She closed her eyes in concentration as the area under her hand glowed as the Balmera moaned. The moaning echoed throughout the tunnels all the way to Shay’s family, though they were confused at first.

Rax dropped to the ground and listened to the message. “The Balmera speaks for Shay,” he said happily.

“She lives!” his father smiled.

“The Paladins journeyed to the core to save her… but now all are trapped by the Galra.” Rax relayed.

“Then all is lost.” his father said in despair.

Rax rose to his feet with a scowl. “This is all my fault. I conspired against the first-comers, and because of my actions, Shay was imprisoned. The Yellow Paladin was correct; if we ever hope to have freedom, we must take action ourselves."

“But how can we rise up against the Galra?” his father asked.

“What other choice do we have? They have taken all the crystals our Balmera has to offer. Our lives are meaningless to them now.”

“But our people have never fought.”

Rax growled. “You taught Shay and myself from birth that without family, we have nothing,” he argued. “The Galra have taken Shay. Our family is incomplete. How can we do nothing while the Paladins sacrifice all to save us? We must do what we can!”

Unfortunately, Prorok was doing _his_ part as well; notifying Zarkon back at Central Command. “Lord Zarkon, I have news that will likely please you to report.”

“Speak, commander,” Zarkon growled.

“Sub-commander Ylvik located the Paladins of Voltron on a Balmera in the Javeeno system,” Prorok reported. “I have ordered that he claim the Lions _and_ Princess Allura, and kill all others.”

Zarkon narrowed his eyes in anger. “You dare make plans behind my back, traitorous fool?!”

“F- Forgive me, my lord. But I saw an opportunity and took it. For the glory of the Galra Empire.” Prorok explained.

“I suspect you may be working toward your own glory, Prorok,” Zarkon growled. “Yet you do not realize Voltron’s full power.”

Unfortunately, the fighter pilots firing on the Castle realized it fully, as Sam saw. “There’s a squadron breaking off and heading down to the Balmera,” he reported.

“They’re moving to steal Voltron!” Alfor realized.

“Paladins, you have to get out of there now! Do you copy?!” yelled Shiro.

“ _Loud and clear, Captain. We’re kinda in the middle of something though._ ” Lance reported.

Suddenly Coran’s face fell in fear. “So are we. Something just locked onto us.”

Shiro suddenly saw what that something was as a battle-cruiser suddenly left warp directly in front of the castle. “Oh quiznak. Full shield power to bow! Make sure we can take that cannon!”

Back on the Balmera, Shay’s family had made their way down to the core and were communicating with the beast. And clearly, it was listening as the flesh around one of the doors started crushing in, destroying the door and allowing them through. “Rax! Oh, thank the beast!” Shay smiled as she ran and embraced her brother.

“We must make haste! We know a quick way to your crafts through the tunnels!” Rax reported as he led the way.

Keith smirked as the Paladins followed. “Shiro, stand by; we’re on our way up.”

“Hey Rax, consider my opinion of you improved.” Hunk smiled.

“I was just about to say the same! Now quickly!” Rax smiled back. Quickly, the Paladins all boarded their speeders and took off.

All but Hunk for starters, who stayed behind with a smirk at Shay. “Hey Shay, get as close to the surface as you can and watch the sky, cause we’re gonna put on one hell of a show!” With that, he sealed his speeder and raced off to the Yellow Lion.

“ _Make this quick, guys! The Galra are taking off with your Lions!_ ” Sam reported.

“Not without us!” Keith smirked as he fired his emergency thrusters and made it into Black’s speeder-port just in time, quickly breaking free of the Galra fighters’ tractor beams and destroying them before flying out of the tunnel. “Paladins, report! Did everyone make it to the Lions in time?”

His question was swiftly answered by all the Lions flying out as well. “Cmon Keith. Who do you think you’re dealin’ with here? A bunch of amateurs?” Lance was suddenly cut short by accidentally crashing his Lion into a dead anti-air turret which jostled him around a fair bit.

“You really want him to answer that?” Sven smirked.

“No,” Lance replied.

“Good. Now let’s go!” Keith ordered as the Lions flew into a fleet of enemy fighters which they quickly decimated, causing an awesome fireworks show. Unfortunately, the awesomeness was cut short by the cruiser charging its hyper-ion cannon and aiming it at the castle. Thankfully, with full shield power at the bow, the ship held out, but it wouldn’t for much longer.

“Keith, get up here now! Twenty seconds and we’re dead!” Shiro yelled.

“Understood. Alright team, let’s do this! FORM VOLTRON!!!” With that order from the Black Paladin, the Lions quickly took off into formation.

The Black Lion’s forelegs folded into the body and it shifted for the head to be facing straight ahead like a human’s. Keith stood up and smiled as he dropped down the main cockpit chute.

The Red and Green Lions folded their legs as well and locked to the Black Lion’s shoulders, sending Lance and Pidge up to the cockpit as well. Once they were gone, the Lions’ jaws and heads unlocked and slid back on the arms, revealing large hands with circular plasma cannons in the palms.

The same thing happened to the Blue and Yellow Lions, but they locked to the Black Lion’s hind legs forming shins and feet, sending Hunk and Allura up to the cockpit as well. Once all the Lions- had locked together, the Black Lion opened its mouth to reveal a silver metal plate which parted to reveal a silver face-plate with blue, red and green around the eyes, which suddenly flashed to solid yellow and the Black Lion’s gold ears folded out into tall horns.

Once all the Paladins were in the main cockpit, they all smiled as Voltron stood strong with Keith as it quickly flew through the clouds up to the enemy cruiser. The Paladins all gave a loud battle-cry as Voltron charged, roaring as well and ready to give the ship a hard right hook. One blow and the cannon’s aim was thrown off. “All yours, Shiro!” Keith yelled.

“Thanks. Full power on main proton cannon!” Shiro ordered.

“Fully powered, and locked onto target!” Sam reported.

“Fire!” With that order, the cannon quickly fired straight through the enemy ship, causing it to go up in a massive explosion. Everyone cheered in victory as the Balmerans looked on in awe.

Back at Galra Command, the report came in that all forces had been annihilated, infuriating Zarkon. “No! This- This is impossible! Lord Zarkon, I promise I will do all I can to reclaim Voltron for the Galra!”

“Silence, imbecile!” Zarkon ordered. “I have plans you could not possibly comprehend.”

Back at the Balmera, the Paladins landed Voltron right near the tunnel opening Shay and her family were watching from as Keith stepped out of the now-deactivated control field. “Mission accomplished.”

“And just in the nick of time,” Alfor reported. “The castle took quite the beating in that last blast and will need to fully recharge all systems.”

Suddenly the alarm started blaring. “You just _had_ to jinx it, didn’t you Alfor?” Sam asked. “What’s going on, Coran?”

“It’s another Robeast coffin!” Coran reported, looking at the screen. “It’s about to crash into the Balmera!”

“Yeah, I see it too!” Keith reported, quickly activating the external speakers. “Everyone take cover! Now!” Quickly all the Balmerans hid just as the coffin landed. “Great.” He stepped back into the control field which reactivated. “Looks like we’re not done yet.”


	24. Restoration

Voltron stared at the Robeast Coffin with an intense glare in its eyes and that of the Paladins.

“Please tell me there’s not another giant monster in there.” Hunk groaned. “Please tell me it’s empty. Or full of space candy; one of those two. Either of those is fine.”

“I don’t think the Galra are nice enough to send us a piñata, Hunk.” Lance scowled.

“If it’s the same kind of Robeast that Avok was latched into, then I’d say we already know how to defeat it.” Allura smiled.

“Agreed. Form Blazing Sword!” Keith quickly summoned Voltron’s great blade and had Pidge activate the shield before Keith assumed a knight’s posture, causing Voltron to do the same. “Stand your ground.” The coffin opened and from it hovered a strange reptilian-looking Robeast with short legs, long arms, green eyes on a strange rail on its head and a large green core in its chest. The eyes quickly locked onto Voltron and the core charged up a large green blast which quickly fired, hitting the shield and sent Voltron back a long way.

“IT’S NOT CANDY!” Hunk yelled in fear.

“And it’s not the same Robeast!” Sven rolled his eyes; Hunk seriously needed to get his priorities straight. Keith quickly spun Voltron out of the way of the beam before looking back at the Robeast.

“Okay, we need to draw its fire away from the Balmera!” he resolved. “Let’s do this!” He quickly sent Voltron flying toward the beast before it suddenly took off and charged the chest again, aiming directly down at Voltron. The Paladins stood strong as best they could, hovering along with the enemy and blocking its beams whenever needed.

Finally, Keith managed to get in close enough to go for a swing, which he did with a loud roar echoed by Voltron, but the enemy dodged before shooting another blast out of one of its eyes, hitting Voltron in the back. “Oh come on, that’s just playing dirty!” Lance yelled.

“Just hang on!” Keith yelled, clearly telling Hunk and Allura to fire the jets at full throttle. They made good ground before the Robeast fired another chest-beam again, colliding with the shield just as Voltron managed to land and turn.

“I don’t think we can hold out much longer!” Lance groaned, trying his best to provide power to the stabilizers.

“My Lion’s systems are weakening,” Pidge noted. “If the shield sustains structural damage, we’re toast!”

“Well, we have to do something!” Keith groaned, feeling himself getting pushed back.

Quickly, Hunk noticed something. “Keith, watch your footing!” Too late; the Blue Lion hit a ridge and knocked Voltron straight onto its back, knocking the shield off.

“Okay, this is going poorly,” Keith noted. “Team Voltron, disband and go to evasive maneuvers! This thing can’t shoot all of us at once!” With that, the Lions separated and shot in various different directions. Unfortunately, the Robeast then flipped its arms up and revealed several different laser-blasters which shot after the Lions. “Okay, so it can do that too; good to know.”

Suddenly a massive shot echoed from the clouds above as the Castle fired on the Robeast… which only served to give it another target, which it quickly sicced one eye on.

“I told you that was a dumb idea!” Alfor growled.

“It just doesn’t make any sense!” Shiro scowled. “Where does Zarkon keep finding time to build these things? And how do they keep finding us?”

“Shiro, the shields are failing. They still haven’t had enough time to recharge from that hyper-ion blast.” Sam reported.

“We’ve gotcha covered!” Keith reported. “Lance, do what you can to draw its fire! I’m comin’ in from up top!”

“Copy that!” Lance was the best choice for this; Red was more than maneuverable enough to play decoy successfully. Unfortunately, it didn’t work as one eye quickly locked onto Black and nearly blasted it out of the sky.

“Okay, that didn’t work!” he groaned. “Cmon people, this thing’s gotta have a blind spot somewhere! Find it and exploit it!”

“I don’t think we can; this thing’s got like thirty eyes!” Pidge counted.

“Laser eyes! LASER EYES!” Hunk yelled, dodging them and knocking Sven around in the cockpit.

“Ugh! Suddenly having flashbacks to the Garrison Department Qualifiers.” he groaned. “And remembering exactly why I prefer someone else at the helm.”

“No one likes a back-seat driver, Sven!” Hunk yelled.

“What’re we gonna do? Fighting this thing is like trying to fight an entire fleet!” Pidge growled, dodging as best she could.

“I think we gotta pull an Oedipus and take out its eyes!” Lance smirked.

“We’ll provide all the cover we can from up here!” Shiro reported. “Fire all weapons!” The castle quickly did so, but only received the full brunt of the enemy on the shield.

“Spectral generator’s down!” Coran yelled.

“Switching to reserve!” Sam reported.

“There’s a fire in VIN-bay 3!”

“Suppressors on!”

“Suppressors out! Shiro, the castle’s getting torn apart!” Shiro quickly slapped Coran across the face.

“Pull yourself together, soldier! Do what you can to fix this ship _now_ and save long-term repairs for later!” he ordered. “Paladins, we’re taking heavy flack! We might need to retreat into orbit!”

“Do it! We’re gonna have to pull back too!” Keith replied.

“We are?” asked Hunk.

“We can’t hold out up here! We’re gonna have to! All Lions, down the mine-shafts! It’s the one place that monster can’t get us!” Keith ordered.

“Copy! Falling back!” Shiro replied, pulling the ship into orbit as all the Lions quickly flew down the mineshafts; Allura and Pidge on one side, Keith, Lance, Hunk and Sven on the other. Quickly, the Paladins ran to the Balmerans to secure them.

“What is happening up there?” asked Rax.

“Long story short, Zarkon sent a giant monster to try and kill us,” Lance explained.

“A monster?” Shay moaned. “Will the savagery of Zarkon never abate? Perhaps my people were never truly meant to be free.”

“Shay no, you can’t give up.” Hunk reassured. “Zarkon’s power rises with every planet he conquers, but it’s weakened by every being that fights back.”

“Fight back? Against a beast like that?” asked Shay. “How?”

“I- I dunno, but we can beat it. Right, Lance?”

“I dunno, man. _Can_ we?” Lance shrugged.

“Yes. We can.” Keith said with conviction. “This is only our second mission, and we are not about to fail now. We can beat it, we- we just need time to come up with a plan.”

“See? Told ya we got this. Thanks, Keith.” Hunk’s smirk disappeared when a large tremor rumbled through the tunnels and the Balmera moaned in pain. “You guys feel that over there?!”

“Kinda hard to miss,” Pidge replied. “What’s that noise?”

Cracks started appearing in the Balmera near Shay’s family and her grandmother pressed her hand against some of them in pain. “That great sound comes from the Balmera itself,” Rax explained. “Our home crumbles to dust beneath our very feet. The Balmera… is about to die.”

Keith growled before turning on the coms. “Shiro, Coran, do you copy?!”

“We read you, Keith,” Shiro replied. “And we already know; the Castle’s sensors are showing the life energy draining out of the Balmera.”

“How does that even happen?” Pidge asked, bringing up a hologram of the large beast from the Castle’s computer.

“ _Removing crystals from a Balmera is like removing a vital piece of the mighty creature,_ ” Alfor explained. “ _Balmera need time and replenishments to stay healthy, but Zarkon’s greed may have cost this noble Balmera its life._ ”

“So what happens now?” asked Sven.

“ _The core will collapse, which will destabilize the entire skeletal structure,_ ” Alfor explained. “ _After that, anything remaining on the Balmera will be crushed into cosmic dust._ ”

Keith was surprised by that but got back to the point. “How much time do we have?”

“ _By our best estimates, roughly five hours,_ ” Coran replied grimly, scaring the others. “ _Balmeras are mighty beasts; willingly giving to all, but not all return its kindness._ ”

That was enough to make Allura smile and snap her fingers. “Then perhaps now is the time to start.”

“What? What do you mean?” asked Lance.

“If we perform the rejuvenation ceremony, that may be enough to save the Balmera,” Allura explained.

“What ceremony? What’re you talking about?” asked Keith.

“ _In our system, when Alteans are given the gift of crystals from a Balmera, a sacred Altean would repay its sacrifice by performing a powerful ceremony to infuse some of **our** life force to replenish that which the crystal granted to us,_” Alfor explained. “ _But I cannot allow it, Allura. Whenever **I** performed the ceremony, it was always on a much smaller scale. The amount of energy required for this… the odds are good you may not survive._”

“I understand your fear for me, Father, but we must try,” Allura said strongly.

Keith nodded. “Agreed. We’ll do what we can to keep the Robeast busy. You guys focus on landing the Castle. Once you do that, Allura should be able to use the crystal in the core as a power conduit for the ceremony.”

“Uh, that _sounds_ like a great plan but how are we supposed to take that thing down with only four Lions?” asked Hunk. “Without Allura, we won’t be able to form Voltron.”

Suddenly Sven heard a low growling in his head… and it seemed to be coming from the other side of the Balmera. He smirked. “I don’t think we need to worry about that.”

“What? What do you mean?” asked Lance.

“I mean I can hear the Blue Lion talking to me. I think it’s saying I can stand in for Allura on this job.” Sven said, quickly boarding his speeder

“But you’re not an official Paladin!” Keith called after him. “You don’t have a Defense Mark!”

“Neither does Alfor!” Sven argued before he roared off.

Keith was about to yell out a retort when he realized… “Wow, I… I literally can’t argue with that.”

“Seriously.” Lance nodded; eyebrow raised. “Allura, you get that?”

“Loud and clear,” she replied. “The Blue Lion is yours, Sven.”

“Thanks. On my way.” Sven quickly kicked full throttle toward the princess until he finally made it, locking his speeder into the Lion. “Okay Blue, let’s see what we can do here, okay? So what’s the plan, Keith?”

“Just bait it away from the castle and draw its fire. Provoke and evade.” Keith said quickly.

“Okay, here’s the thing; I’m worried we’re gonna be really, really good at the ‘provoke’ part, but then like _insanely_ bad at the ‘evade’ part.” Hunk rationalized. “But if this is what it takes to save Shay and all her people, then I’m in.”

“Good.” Keith nodded, turning to Shay. “Get your family to the surface when the Castle lands and tell the rest of your people to channel all the power they have to give into the Balmera.” Shay nodded in understanding and quickly led her family up the tunnel. “Alright Paladins, let’s do this.” With that, they all boarded their Lions and flew them out of the tunnels to engage, and then all ran.

“Okay; ‘provoke’, check.” Hunk nodded. “Now we evade. Good luck, guys!”

“Thanks. Chances are we’ll need it.” Shiro replied. “We’ll contact you when we land. Bring us down, Coran.”

“Understood.” Coran quickly complied, bringing the Castle down toward the Balmera.

Once the thrusters made land-fall, Shiro quickly ran out the front to the Balmerans. “We made it.”

“ _Make this quick! I don’t know how long we can keep this thing busy!_ ” Keith reported.

“Roger!” Shiro nodded and led Shay’s family and Allura to under the castle. “Coran, raise the particle barrier! Now!”

“Diverting all non-essential power to the barrier generator.” Once the barrier came up, it was a vibrant bright blue, much stronger than ever before.

“Alright, now let us begin.” Allura removed her helmet and gauntlets, dropping to her knees and placing her hands on the Balmera’s surface. “Shay, I wish to speak to your people. Can you send a message to them for me?”

“There is no need for any of us to speak for you, child.” Shay’s grandmother spoke up. “You have a unique power within. The Balmera itself will carry your words.” Allura was confused by what she meant until she saw the ground under her hands appeared to glow.

She pulled them away in awe as her father’s hologram projected down beside her. “Incredible. This power has only ever been written of in ancient texts of Oriande. You must be a Chosen, my daughter.”

“A Chosen? But… my lord, the odds of that happening are astronomical.” Coran brought up.

“As were the odds of Voltron returning, and we have beaten _them_ , have we not?” Alfor argued.

“Speak your heart, child.” Shay’s grandmother smiled, moving to press Allura’s hands into the ground. “All can hear you.”

Allura took a deep breath and spoke as the old woman told her. “People of the Balmera, keepers of the crystals, I am Allura, heir to the throne of Altea. You may not know me and I do not blame you for it, but I am here to help you,” she said strongly. “I know what it is like to watch your home-world die, for I am of Altea; a planet once aligned with the Galra before Zarkon became the despotic tyrant he is now. I have seen his work on countless races across infinite stars, but I and many others have refused to surrender. And now, we of the Galactic Coalition offer each and every one of you the same choice. You can decide now to devote your lives to ensuring that this never happens to another being. I am eternally sorry for what has happened to your home, but I beg of you; assist me in saving it. Lend me every ounce of energy you can spare and I promise to restore your home to its pristine life. Honor your home by refusing surrender. Join me in our battle against the Galra.”

Shay’s grandmother placed her own hand atop Allura’s with a smile. “Your words have touched our hearts, princess. We will gladly aid you.”

Shiro brushed a tear from his eye and knelt as well. “I’d be more than happy to offer my assistance as well, if you’ll allow it.”

Allura smiled at her captain and her new Balmeran friends. “Thank you.”

“No. Thank _you_.” Shay’s grandmother smiled. “You have given my people reason to hope again.”

Lance sniffed in his Lion cockpit as he dodged another blast as he had heard that speech over the coms. “That was beautiful, Princess.”

“Lance, 3 o’clock!” Sven’s warning came just a little too late as the blast hit Red square in the side.

“OW!” Lance yelled. “Ugh. Okay, I think we’ve got him pretty good and distracted. Is everyone in position?”

“ _Affirmative,_ ” Sam replied. “ _I’m reading a massive energy spike coursing through the Balmera. Looks like they’re more than willing to offer their energy._ ”

“Good, because I think we need some,” Sven noted. “Blue’s levels are runnin’ low.”

“I think I have an idea for a jumpstart,” Keith smirked. “All units into formation! FORM VOLTRON!!!” With that order from the Black Paladin, the Lions quickly took off into formation.

The Black Lion’s forelegs folded into the body and it shifted for the head to be facing straight ahead like a human’s. Keith stood up and smiled as he dropped down the main cockpit chute.

The Red and Green Lions folded their legs as well and locked to the Black Lion’s shoulders, sending Lance and Pidge up to the cockpit as well. Once they were gone, the Lions’ jaws and heads unlocked and slid back on the arms, revealing large hands with circular plasma cannons in the palms.

The same thing happened to the Blue and Yellow Lions, but they locked to the Black Lion’s hind legs forming shins and feet, sending Hunk and Sven up to the cockpit as well. Once all the Lions- had locked together, the Black Lion opened its mouth to reveal a silver metal plate which parted to reveal a silver face-plate with blue, red and green around the eyes, which suddenly flashed to solid yellow and the Black Lion’s gold ears folded out into tall horns.

Once all the Paladins were in the main cockpit, they all smiled as Voltron stood strong with Keith as he quickly engaged the recharge panel. “Alright lizard-face, you big laser-spewing wuss! Gimme all the juice you got!” The Robeast seemed to listen as it charged a powerful beam from all its blasters… and aimed it at the castle. Quickly, Keith moved it so that Voltron was in the way, blocking the line of fire with the recharge panel just as the blast shot from the Robeast, sending Voltron straight toward the Castle.

“Ugh! Don’t worry!” Sven yelled. “Got this totally under control!”

“Speak for yourself; you’re not the one that feels like you’re getting shot in the back with enough energy to power every city in the Sol System!” Keith groaned. “How we doin’, Pidge?”

“Well, you’re right about one thing; this is too much power. If we tank anymore, Voltron might overload, explode and kill us all!” Pidge reported.

“Perfect.” Keith quickly had Voltron disengage the recharge panel and switch it back to the Blazing Sword and shield, which he then used to block the rest of the beam until it faded. “Hunk, time for the last resort!”

“Comin’ your way!” Hunk nodded, sending Keith the Yellow Bayard which he quickly took off his belt.

“Form Hyper-Roar Cannon!” With that command, the sword and shield disappeared and the massive cannon formed in its place. At the castle, Allura took her position under the engine and started a quiet mental prayer which caused the power of the castle’s crystal to shoot out and flow around her into the Balmera, along with the life-force of Shiro and all the Balmerans.

Unfortunately, this dropped the particle barrier and made it so that Voltron had to stand in the way no matter what… which was just fine by Keith as the Robeast charged up another super-shot and fired it at the great knight. “Brace!” That was all the warning Keith gave to the rest of the crew before he pulled the trigger on the cannon, the beams quickly colliding between the two giants.

“All excess power diverted to cannon!” Pidge reported.

“We still don’t have enough!” Keith groaned. “We’re gonna have to try something else!” With that, he angled Voltron just enough so that the Robeast’s beam shot past the castle harmlessly. Quickly, Voltron took off with the Robeast’s aim readjusting to it. Keith recharged all the way back up to 500% before he continued flying when suddenly a large targeting screen appeared in the main cockpit with locks on all of the Robeast’s blasters.

“What the heck?” asked Sven.

“Looks like this thing comes with a scatter-shot mode.” Hunk smirked at the cannon.

“Well, let’s test it out!” Keith smirked and pulled the trigger again, this time sending out several small curving blasts which curved around the Robeast and blasted out each of the eyes. Finally, all the eyes on its arms were dead, but the main two on the head were still working as they blasted at Voltron.

“Ugh. Man, this guy just cannot stay dead!” Keith growled as he disengaged the cannon. “Looks like we’re gonna have to do this the hard way. Form Blazing Sword!” Once the sword formed, Keith just needed to wait for a perfect move.

At the castle, the energy from the ceremony was so intense that the entire structure was suddenly engulfed in light before it spread to every corner of the Balmera, which loudly moaned happily.

Finally, Keith saw the perfect opening and smirked. “Now! Exceed the power capacity on the thrusters! Get us in there!” Everyone quickly did so and sent Voltron careening to the Robeast with a loud war cry just before Keith got in the last slash, cutting the Robeast’s head clean off. Once that was done, he quickly flip-kicked it off into space. “Whoo! That was awesome.” With that done, the Paladins quickly disengaged Voltron and ran to the castle just as the ceremony finished, causing Allura to nearly fall onto her side.

“I gotcha.” Keith quickly zipped over and caught her, allowing her to rest her head on his lap. “You okay?”

She gave a weak smirk up to her commander. “I may not be joining you in the cockpit for a while.” she joked. “Did it work?”

“Yes.” Rax smiled, moving his hand. “The Balmera lives once again. It thanks you. All of you.”

Keith smiled and patted the ground. “You’re welcome.” Suddenly, the Robeast’s body started to get up, making Keith angry beyond belief. “Are you kidding me?!” It charged and aimed its main chest cannon at the castle, but just before it fired, its feet suddenly sunk into the ground as a large mass of crystals grew around the beast and imprisoned it.

Everyone stared on in awe of this amazing spectacle. “No. Way. Did that seriously just happen?!” Lance said in happy amazement.

“I think it did. The Balmera just saved us.” Coran agreed in awe.

“Hey guys, look! Crystals.” Shiro was right; crystals were sprouting all over the Balmera’s surface and beyond.

Suddenly Hunk dropped to his hands and knees and started petting the Balmera, talking to it like a puppy. The others all looked on confused and disturbed until Keith finally said: “Dude, what the hell are you doing?”

“What? It’s alive!” Hunk justified. “And it wuvs my scwatches!” He gave a little chuckle as Keith pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Ay-ay-ay.” Lance groaned as he face-palmed.

Soon enough, Allura had been taken to her quarters in the castle and all the others were working on fully removing all the Galra installations’ remnants. But Hunk? Well, he and Shay were chillin’ on top of the Yellow Lion’s head watching the stars. “Thank you for honoring your vow to return.” Shay smiled, snuggling up to Hunk.

“Hey, a Garret always keeps his word.” Hunk shrugged. “Besides, I should really be the one thanking you; you helped me understand what’s most important about this job.” He looked out to the stars with a powerful look in his eye. “The Galra Empire is destroying lives across the universe. I’m part of a team that can fix that. I realize that now.”

Shay smiled at him until the light of the star got into her eyes. She had to block them for a second until they adjusted and she looked in awe. “What is that?”

Hunk looked at the star too and smiled as he wrapped an arm around Shay, knowing exactly what to say. “It’s the dawn of a new day.” And indeed it was.


	25. The Bar (pt. 1)

Allura groaned as she slowly rose, surprised to find herself in an unfamiliar bed… naked. She blushed a bit and quickly covered herself with the blanket just before the door opened to reveal Pidge and Romelle.

“Oh, cousin.” Romelle smiled. “How are you feeling?”

“Ugh. Quite tired actually.” Allura put a hand to her head as she groaned. “Where are we?”

“On the _Explorer,_ ” Pidge explained. “The Castle took more of a beating on the Balmera than we expected so Shiro called Captain Newley to come and pick us up so we could run repairs.”

“I see.” Allura nodded. “What happened to me?”

“You expended too much energy restoring the Balmera,” Romelle explained. “You’ll need a few days of rest before you’ll be fit for duty with Voltron again.”

“So what do we do now?”

“We were considering asking Captain Newley to take us to Pollux for leave.” Pidge shrugged before smirking. “I’m sure Sven wouldn’t mind getting a tour of the palace from his girlfriend.”

Romelle blushed unbelievably red and just stuttered for a minute before saying “I, uh… I think I should get Professor Page.” With that, she quickly left the room leaving a smirking Pidge behind with an unamused Allura.

“Why do you insist on antagonizing my cousin?” she asked.

“Cause I think it’s funny.” Pidge chuckled. “Now hurry up and get dressed; the captain wants to see you on the bridge in five.” With that she left, leaving Allura to roll her eyes. It took a minute for her to get dressed in a simple blue nightgown but once done, she came to the bridge to find the others along with several other younger crewmen and a few officers.

“Princess on the bridge!” Captain Newley yelled. “Atten-hut!” The whole crew quickly stood at attention with stern looks on their faces. “At ease. Just wanted to make sure you weren’t gettin’ rusty.”

“Not likely, Cap'n.” one crewman smirked as he came forward. He was about Keith’s age with brown eyes and black hair, but one thing confused Allura; his cadet’s uniform was blue at the top instead of the regulation orange. “Afternoon, your highness. Name’s Jeff.”

“Ah yes, Keith’s mentioned you before.” Allura smiled, shaking his hand.

“His clutch play last poker night, no doubt,” Jeff smirked, looking to Keith. “Seriously man, how are you so lucky?”

“Hell if I know, Jeff.” the Paladin shrugged. “All I know is we’re all lucky you guys were in the area.”

“Well, we’re here to help whenever you need us, cadet.” the commander smiled, turning to Allura and saluting. “Second-in-command of the _Explorer_ ; Commander James Hawkins, at your service ma’am.”

Allura smiled and saluted as well. “At ease, Commander.”

Hawkins did so but smirked. “All due respect cadet, but I outrank you. You can’t give me that sort of order.”

“Perhaps that would be true if I didn’t have my _other_ title,” Allura smirked back.

Hawkins chuckled. “Right again, Princess. Now then, your ship.” He turned to the com-panel and hailed down to the castle, which was being towed by the _Explorer_ in a tractor beam. “Petty Officer Jack, report. How long will the repairs on the castle take?”

“ _I’d say about an eternity._ ” the blonde blue-eyed officer, wearing a reverse of the regulation colors, replied in a thick Australian accent. “ _Whole Teleduv system’s shot to shit and near every scaultrite lens is about to shatter. And I ain’t in much of a mood to go weblum-divin’._ ”

“How many lenses still intact?”

“ _Define ‘intact’, sir._ ” The commander sighed at this news, looking to the crewmen at the control panels.

“Warrant Officer Carateja, you ran the last inventory. How many lenses do we have to give?” A half-Brazilian soldier, wearing a black-topped uniform with a bright blue body, stood up.

“Nowhere near enough for their ship, sir,” he replied. “We’ve only got ten left before we need to hit a star-base to resupply.”

“Well, we’ll just have to accelerate our resupplying schedule.” Captain Newley resolved. “Helm, readjust course. Heading; nearest Coalition star-base.”

“Aye-aye Captain,” Cinda replied, spinning the old-fashioned style steel helm at the top of the bridge to one side and adjusting the tiller-wheel at her side to change the ship's bearing. "ETA to Starbase 4-7-Alpha: 3 hours, 56 minutes."

Coran was playing with his mustache when he realized something and smirked. “I think I may have a closer idea.” He quickly moved over to the computer Pidge was working on and produced a drive. “May I?”

“By all means.” Pidge rolled back and allowed Coran to load the drive, bringing an array of pictures up on the main viewer; namely four-armed alien pirates.

“Coran! You can’t seriously be suggesting we go to one of those filthy swap-moons.” Allura said in disgust. “Last time you went, those _space pirates_ took you for everything you had.”

“‘Space pirates’?” asked Ginger. “That sounds dangerous.”

“It sounds _awesome,_ ” Jeff smirked. “Who are these guys?”

“The Unilu; a race of pirates and merchants that roam the universe and deal in black market goods,” Coran explained. “Something like the Ferengi from your earthling _Star Trek_ program.”

“I instantly don’t like them.” Pidge crossed her arms, remembering that show.

“Don’t worry, in other ways their culture is vastly divergent from that of the Ferengi,” Coran reassured. “Not to say their prices are anymore manageable. Course, you can haggle with them but no one can haggle like the Unilu. Why, last time I went to one of their swap-moons, I ended up giving away three-quarters of a shipment of langor for a used pogo oscillator.”

The officers all had a laugh about that, along with Allura and Romelle. “Father was _not_ pleased about that.” Allura chuckled.

“Alright, sounds like a plan,” Lance smirked. “We hit this moon and pick up the lenses and in the meantime, Keith can pick up something sparkly for Allura.”

“Guh- this isn’t like one of your Earth shopping malls!” Coran growled. “You’re not wandering around going ‘Ooh, what a lovely pink hat, this is so becoming!’ Ehh, no way! I cannot allow the princesses to get anywhere near those filthy lowballing Unilu hoodlums!”

“But I’d love something sparkly.” Allura smiled.

Keith rolled his eyes. “Alright look, I’ll pick something up for you if I find anything you might like, but for right now, you seriously need to be resting. That ritual took a lot out of you.” Allura’s face fell in angst as she watched after Coran.

“Right, now Captain, I trust you won’t mind allowing us the use of one of your runabouts?” he asked.

“Help yourself; we just got the _Nile_ refueled.” Rick smiled. “It’s waitin’ on Pad 4.”

“Excellent. Paladins, you’re with me. We just need to get in, get the lenses or enough scaultrite to make them and then get the heck out.” Coran explained.

Lance smirked and ran ahead. “Shotgun!”

“Aw what, no! You have to be on the launchpad to call shotgun!” Hunk yelled as he and the others ran after Lance.

“Pfft! Yeah right, since when?” Lance smirked.

“Uh, since forever? That’s shotgun etiquette! Rocky and I wrote the book!” Hunk yelled.

Hawkins shook his head as he watched after the two. “Kids. Whatever happened to the military’s minimum age requirements, Sam?”

“Simple; aliens happened.” Sam shrugged.

“Well, while they’re doing that, I’m gonna go hit the holodeck and get in some training. Care to join, Shiro?” asked Rick.

“Nah, gonna go see Michael. Think one of my hand’s servos is acting up again.” Shiro shrugged as he left for med-bay.

“Alright, see ya later.” Rick nodded, looking back to the crew. “As for the rest of ya, I think you’ve earned a break. Take some leisure time, okay? That’s an order.”

“Yes, sir.” Jeff saluted happily.

“You have the bridge, Hawkins.”

“Aye, sir.” Hawkins nodded, sitting in the commander’s chair on the bridge.

Allura sighed as she sat down in Pidge’s place. “So what am I supposed to do now? Just sit around and worry all day?”

“I think I’ve got a better idea,” Jeff smirked. “I heard Lisa’s gonna be puttin’ on a show in the mess hall tonight. If you want, the guys and I could treat you to dinner while we watch.”

Allura thought for a moment and smiled. “That sounds wonderful. I’d like to freshen up first though.”

“Take all the time you need.” Jeff nodded, allowing her to leave for her quarters on the castle.

Meanwhile, on the _River_ -class runabout _Nile_ , Lance ended up with the front seat, leaving the others to cram into the back. “How you guys doin’ back there?” Coran asked over the radio.

“Aw man, it is _so_ comfy up here.” Lance gloated. “Extra leg-room, seat warmers? Aw hell yeah!”

“I’m gonna murder that guy in his sleep one of these days, I swear to god.” Hunk growled.

“Relax Hunk, I’ll hold him back so _you_ can have shotgun on the way back to the _Explorer_ once we’re done,” Sven reassured, changing out of his uniform to a more suitable civilian outfit.

“Thanks, Sven, that’s much appreciated.” Hunk nodded.

“Now remember; these swap-moons can be very hostile environments, so stay on your toes. No weapons unless necessary and keep com-chatter to a minimum. And above all, look like you belong.” Coran reminded.

“Understood.” Keith nodded. “How much longer before we get there?”

“Well, if my memory serves me correctly, it should be right… up…. here.” Coran smiled, gazing at the moon he then landed the craft at. Once they had landed, Keith got out and was confused by what he saw.

“Coran, I thought you said this Unilu swap was nothing like an Earth mall,” he asked. “This looks a lot like the Newport Mall to me.”

“Uh, the Unilu swap is over there.” Coran pointed to the left of this clean-looking shopping mall area over to a dirty, run-down establishment that looked more like a biker bar than anything else.

“Of course it is.” Keith rolled his eyes.

“Alright, remember; remain vigilant at all times. The Unilu are cutthroat wheeler-dealers, so make sure you keep your hands on your coin satchels.” Coran reminded.

“Uh, all my satchels are empty.” Hunk showed this by turning them inside out.

“Uh- good, good,” Coran said.

“Look, let’s just get this over with.” Sven groaned. “Just search the place for anyone dealing in scaultrite, buy some off them and meet back at the runabout when you’re done.” Everyone quickly nodded in agreement and walked to the bar, where Keith promptly opened the doors, drawing quite a bit of attention from the occupants.

Keith took the lead and cleared his throat. “Afternoon. Any of you guys know where we can get some scaultrite?” The occupants all ignored him and returned to their own business. Keith just rolled his eyes. “Looks like we’re gonna have to do this the hard way. Fan out and see who knows what.” Everyone quickly did so with Keith moving to speak with a female Unilu who looked like she might… bump fuzzies for money.

“Well, howdy sweetheart. Lookin’ for a good time?” she asked.

Keith glanced around for a second before he looked back at her. “Weapons dealer, actually.” He produced a cash-chip and moved to pass it to her. “20 coalition credits.”

“That’d let you show me how it tastes.” the hooker replied. “What else ya got?”

Keith pressed a button on the chip and handed it back. “200. Now, what do you know?” The woman moved to take the chip, but he pulled it away. “Ap-bap-bap. No, ya don’t. Quid pro quo, sweetheart.”

She sighed and pointed to the back. “Ahkel’s in the back. He’s the biggest gun-runner in this sector.”

“Thanks.” Keith handed her the chip and slunk into the back room. Lance was confused by this but then saw someone he wasn’t expecting to see at the bar; a female Galra soldier about his age. And from where Lance was standing, she seemed pretty cute… and also familiar for some reason. He decided to try his luck and slid over to the bar next to her.

“Aren’t you a little young to be in this place, son?” asked the bartender.

“Shut up, get that wiener out of your hand and get me and the lady a couple of Stardrifters,” Lance smirked.

The bartender chuckled. “Precocious little scamp, ain’t ya?”

“Just get us the drinks, pal,” Lance smirked, slapping a single bar of latinum on the counter.

The bartender let out an impressed whistle and picked up the bar of valuable metal. “Right away, sir.” With that, he quickly slipped the drinks down to the two before moving on.

Lance smiled at this soldier but she just slid her drink away from her. “I appreciate the thought, but no thanks; I don’t drink.”

“Meh. Well, feel free to change your mind.” Lance smiled before he gave her a scrutinizing look. “Say… do I know you from somewhere?”

This Galra soldier gave a dry snicker before she looked at him. “I doubt it. You’re the first human I’ve seen in this dump.”

“Yeah well, I didn’t exactly expect to see a Galra soldier here either.” Lance shrugged.

“It’s one of the only places in this sector my friends and I can fit in and not get ridiculed by our fellows. The Galra may not have any problems with women in their military, but they always insult those like us; all half-breeds. My mother was a Drule.” this soldier explained.

“And what about your friends?”

“Well Ezor is half-Siblian and Zethrid is half-Bralkian… and unless I’m mistaken, Ezor’s on top tonight.”

Lance was surprised at this but shrugged as it wasn’t much of a problem on Earth. “Oh. Well, more power to ‘em.” He raised his drink and smirked at this girl, who shrugged and raised her drink to him as well.

“I’m Acxa.” she nodded.

Lance was about to say his own name, but he was worried she might recognize that from a report so he quickly decided on something else. “Charlie.” The two knocked their glasses and downed the drinks, both giving dry gasps as the alien alcohol burned their throats.

“Whoo! Oh, that is good stuff!” Acxa smiled.

“I know, right?” Lance smirked. “So listen, are you sure we haven’t met before?”

Acxa shrugged. “Pretty sure.” Then she raised an eyebrow. “But y’know, now that I think about it, you do look kinda familiar. Maybe… Mm, Nah.”

“Yeah, probably just a passing glance.” Lance shrugged. “So listen, my friends and I need scaultrite to run repairs on our ship. Anyone around here sell that stuff?”

“Why bother buying it from one of these low-ballers? My ship just got done collecting some from a weblum a few lightyears from here.” Acxa smiled, kicking one of the crates at her feet which rattled with mineral.

“Nice. How much?” asked Lance.

Acxa let her face fall. “I don’t sell my merchandise, human. I only gamble with it, one bag at a time.”

“Well then, how much do those bags each hold and what do you wanna play?” asked Lance.

“Enough for a Galra battlecruiser.” Lance ran that through his head; the castle was much smaller than a cruiser so they’d have more than enough scaultrite for the castle, not to mention a few to give to Captain Newley as a gift. “And we play Dabo.”

Lance smirked; he was an ace in the Dabo halls at the Garrison so he knew exactly how to win. “You’re on.”

Back on the _Explorer_ , Jeff had gathered the whole rest of his friends in the crew in the commissary and was waiting for the princess.

“Well, what’s takin’ her so long?”

“Relax Rocky, she’ll be here.” Jeff nodded. “If what Lance told me Keith said is true, she wouldn’t miss this show for the world.”

Ginger looked to the door and smirked. “I think you’re right, Jeff. Look at that.” Everyone looked and was pleasantly surprised to see Allura in a simple blue evening dress.

“I’m not late, am I?” she asked.

Jeff smirked. “Hardly. Cmon, take a seat; lemme introduce ya around.” With that, he led Allura to a seat around the table. “I hear you’ve already met Ginger and our Luxian friends, but this is 3rd class P.O. Rockford Maxwell…”

“Hey, how ya doin?” the New Yorker smirked. “Call me Rocky.”

“That’s Pidge’s cousin, Intel Chief P.O. Chip Stoker…”

“Hi.” the short boy said.

“This is Chief Engineer Walter Jack…”

“Call me Cliff.” The petty officer smirked.

“…Staff Sergeant Modoc Chucker…”

“Howdy.” he raised his hand.

“…Crewman Marvin Hodges…”

“Evening Princess.” he smiled.

“…Lance Corporal Hutch Daniels…”

“Highness,” he smirked.

“…assistant medic P.O. 3rd class Shannon Cochrane…”

“Top’a the mornin’.” the Irishman tipped his imaginary hat to the princess.

“…and Warrant Officer Zandee Carateja.”

“Good evening.” he saluted casually.

“A pleasure to meet you all.” Allura bowed respectfully. “But I must ask, where’s Lisa?”

“P.O. 1st class Haruka?” asked Hutch. “Oh, she’ll be here. One thing I know about her is she always likes to make an entrance.” And he was right; as soon as he said that, the lights started going down.

Jeff smirked at this. “Chip?”

“On it.” With that, Chip suddenly produced a small subspace radio and tuned it. “Good evening Galactic Coalition, how ya doin out there? It’s 6:43 PM Altean Central Time, you’re listening to Alliance Radio Frequency 4-Omega-X, and I hope you’re in the mood for some Earth music cause it doesn’t get any better than this; If you’ve heard her before, you’re not listening now, so say hello to Lisa Haruka, north-star of the _Explorer_ crew.” With that, the curtains on the stage opened and everyone cheered and applauded as Lisa walked out to the microphone at the end of the stage.

“Good evening everyone,” she said with a smile. “This one goes out to the asteroid-blasters in sector 493 of the Magellanic Cloud. This war’s only been goin’ on for two weeks, but our ships are already scoring major wins all over the universe. Let’s keep it going boys.”

**(Play “Faith of the Heart (Where My Heart Will Take Me)” – The Meridian Studio Ensemble)**

_Lisa: It's been a long road_   
_Getting from there to here_   
_It's been a long time_   
_But my time is finally near_

_And I can feel a change in the wind right now_   
_Nothing's in my way_   
_And they're not gonna hold me down no more_   
_No, they're not gonna hold me down_

_'Cause I've got Faith of the Heart_   
_I'm going where my heart will take me_   
_I've got faith to believe_   
_I can do anything_

_I've got strength of the soul_   
_And no one's gonna bend or break me_   
_I can reach any star_

_I've got faith_   
_I've got faith_   
_Faith of the Heart_

This music was broadcast all over Coalition Space and beyond, as even those at the Unilu moon heard it and those there were loving it.

_It's been a long night_   
_Trying to find my way_   
_Been through the darkness_   
_Now I finally have my day_

_And I will see my dream come alive at last_   
_I will touch the sky_   
_And they're not gonna hold me down no more_   
_No, they're not gonna change my mind_

_'Cause I've got Faith of the Heart_   
_I'm going where my heart will take me_   
_I've got faith to believe_   
_I can do anything_

_I've got strength of the soul_   
_And no one's gonna bend or break me_   
_I can reach any star_

_I've got faith_   
_Faith of the Heart_

_I've known the wind so cold_   
_I’ve seen the darkest days, yeah_   
_But now the winds I feel_   
_Are only winds of change. Ohh!_   
_Oh, I've been through the fire_   
_And I've been through the rain_   
_But I'll be fine_

_I've got Faith of the Heart_   
_I'm going where my heart will take me_   
_I've got faith to believe_   
_I can do anything_

_I've got strength of the soul_   
_And no one's gonna bend or break me_   
_I can reach any star_

_I've got faith_   
_Faith of the..._

_Faith of the Heart_   
_I'm going where my heart will take me_   
_And I can reach any star_

_I've got faith_   
_I've got faith_   
_Faith of the Heart_

_It's been a long road…_

**(Cut it)**

The entire commissary erupted in applause and loud cheering to which Lisa smiled and gave a cordial bow. “Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Thank you.”

“Lisa Haruka, ladies and gentlemen!” Chip smiled into his transmitter. “Now let’s listen to some other classics. Lock it in, Rocky.”

“Here ya go, kid.” Rocky passed Chip a music card and locked it into the transmitter, playing some Earth jazz.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like that once humanity finally finds and reaches a habitable exo-planet, they should play this song. Thoughts?


	26. The Bar (pt. 2)

At the bar, Keith smiled as the music played and he simply walked into the back room to find a seedy-looking Unilu with a bionic arm. “You Ahkel?”

“Who’s askin’?”

“A guy who wants to know something about weapons. Knives specifically.”

“I got those by the thousand, pal. You want one, you’re gonna have to be a little more specific about what kind.”

Keith scowled and drew his own knife, placing it on the table. “Ever come across something like this?”

“Not that I know of.” Ahkel picked up the weapon and examined it. “Gotta admit though, points for craftsmanship. And what’s this blade made of, luxite? That mineral is only found in one asteroid field in the universe and even then, it was mined clean decades ago. Where’d ya get this?”

Keith scowled as he stood up from the table. “It was a gift.”

Ahkel stood as well with a greedy smirk on his face. “Okay, that’s vague. Tell ya what; I think I know some guys who might like to own a knife like this, so I’ll give you a thousand GAC to take it off your hands.”

“I’m not selling.”

Ahkel growled. “Alright, two thousand.”

“No thanks. Give it back.” Keith scowled.

Ahkel smirked and leaned back in his chair. “Okay, how about this; I keep the knife and you get the heck outta here before I call moon-security. I know it’s stolen.”

“And judging from the stamps on some of these weapons, I know that you probably don’t like moon-security any more than I do,” Keith smirked back. “Besides, I’ve had this thing my whole life.”

“Well then, who gave it to you?”

“My mother. She left my dad when I was a kid. I don’t remember a lot about her, but I know that if I can just figure out where this knife came from, I might be able to find her.” Keith explained.

Ahkel just gave a dry chuckle. “You expect me to believe this load of sickening schmaltz?”

Keith growled and quickly grabbed one of the blaster pistols from the rack to his side and aimed it at the dealer. “I expect you to tell me who made this knife so I can track down my mother.”

Ahkel spun the knife around in his robotic hand a few times as he looked at Keith. “Look pal, all I can tell ya is that this thing is consistent with Galra weaponsmiths. If this knife is all you have to go off of to find your mom, then tough luck; from what I’ve heard, Zarkon’s forges are known for… well, let’s call ‘em on-the-job accidents.”

“You’re saying my mother might be dead?”

“I’m sayin’ you’d be lucky if she wasn’t.” Ahkel shrugged. “Now… how’s about that GAC?”

“You have mud in your ears? I said I’m not selling. Now, is there any indication _which_ Galra forge it was made in?”

“Sorry man, but things like that tend to blend together after a long enough time.”

“You weapon-dealers are always sticklers for attention-to-detail.” Keith scowled. “You must know something.”

“Look kid, I’ve already dealt with the Galra more than enough times than I’d like to, so I have to be vague; all I can give you is my best guess.”

“Which is?”

Ahkel examined the blade carefully before he extended the handle back to Keith. “I’d say one of the asteroids in the Vortex Nebula. Now that’s all I can tell you; I’m sorry.”

“Well, it’s not much but it’ll get me started.” Keith shrugged as he put the pistol back where he found it. “Thanks.” He moved to take his knife back, but Ahkel flipped the handle up and away from his hand.

“Ah-ah-ah. How about some quid pro quo?”

Keith scowled at this dealer. “Are you seriously charging me for my own knife?”

“And for the information about it. Pay me for that, and you get the knife back.”

Keith was about to punch him in the face when something struck him; something that there was no way he would deny. “You know that hooker outside? She’s the one who recommended you to me. Gimme the knife, and I’ll pay her enough to take you upstairs.”

Ahkel chuckled. “Nava? Yeah right. Johnny Bench called, to use a human phrase.”

“Seriously, dude?” Keith knew what that expression meant, and he was confused about why Ahkel used it. “She doesn’t look like she’s seen _that_ much use.”

“Looks can be deceiving.” Ahkel shrugged. “Now how about that pay?”

“How’s this; you give me the knife or I let you meet its business end?”

“You seriously wanna challenge me to a knife fight?” Ahkel raised an eyebrow.

“The question is are you willing to try your luck against me?” Keith smirked.

“Yeah. I think I am.” Unfortunately, that was all Ahkel managed to say before Keith punched him straight in the face and retrieved his knife, taking a long look at it.

“ _Galra forges? Mom can’t have been enslaved… can she?_ ” All he had heard about his mother from his dad was that she was an explorer by heart. It stood to reason that if she had strayed too far away from coalition space while on an exploration excursion, she might’ve been captured by the Galra. But that comment about on-the-job accidents didn’t exactly inspire confidence, but he shook it off and moved to leave… until something shiny caught his eye. He looked and saw a strange necklace in Ahkel’s lower left hand. An Altean one, no less. “ _Well… as long as I’m here…_ ” He took a few glances around him and when he saw no one, he quickly stole the necklace and pocketed it. Then to make it look more believable, he splashed some alcohol around and walked out of the back room whistling innocently until he ran into Nava.

“You find everything you wanted?” she asked.

Keith shrugged. “Got all I could; the guy was piss-drunk. He told me what he could and then fell out of his chair, hit his head on the table. Might wanna get a medic in there just in case.” With that, he slipped over to the nearby Dabo table to see Lance playing against Acxa. He was confused and nearly moved to draw his knife until Lance won.

“Ha-ha! Alright Acxa, pay up,” he smirked. The soldier rolled her eyes and slid the crate over to him. “Pleasure doin’ business with you.” He gave a sharp whistle over to another booth where Hunk was clearly trying to escape from a pair of Draylaxian women. “Yo Hunk! You mind?”

“Not a bit! Scuse me, ladies.” Hunk quickly rolled out of the booth and jumped over to the crate, picking it up without a single worry before he and the others all quickly left for the runabout.

“Who was that?” Keith asked.

“Don’t worry about it. I doubt we’ll be seeing her again anyway, so we can just get going.” Keith rolled his eyes at his right hand but rolled with it as the runabout soon returned to the _Explorer_ to find a crew of technicians waiting at the airlock.

“Here ya go, guys.” Hunk handed them the crate which they placed on a hover-dolly. “That oughtta be enough to get the castle moving again.”

“Thanks, Hunk.” one of them smiled, shaking his hand. “Wanna come give us a hand?”

“Sure. I’ll be back in a minute, guys.” With that, he and the others moved to leave for the castle.

Keith realized something and moved to a computer console. “Computer, locate Princess Allura.”

“Cadet Allura Fala is on Level 9, section 3.” the computer replied.

“Section 3? Isn’t that the observation deck?”

“Affirmative.” Keith was confused but then he realized it. He smirked as he moved to the nearest elevator and took it up to level 9.

And he was right; there the princess stood, staring out the window to the stars. “Serious stargazer, huh?”

Allura was surprised by his sudden arrival but smiled. “It’s a hobby.” She looked back out the window as Keith moved to join her. “It just amazes me that at some point in every habitable system’s history, all the races indigenous to them thought they were all the only sentient race in the universe.”

Keith gave a small chuckle. “Yeah, I hear ya.” He moved to lean against the window and held up the necklace. “By the way, I got you this from the swap-moon.”

Allura smiled at Keith’s kindness until she looked at the charm on the necklace and gasped. “Where did the vendor say he found this?”

“Uh, he was… less than forthcoming about that part.” Keith shrugged vaguely. “Why? Do you recognize it from somewhere?”

“Yes. It belonged to Honerva a hundred years ago.” This surprised Keith.

“Wait, you mean that Altean scientist? Lotor’s mom?”

“The same.” Allura grasped the charm in awe. “But it doesn’t make sense; my father told me Honerva never let this charm out of her sight. How did it end up in the grasp of an Unilu pirate?”

“I don’t know.” Keith shrugged before realizing something. “But I think I know someone who might.”

This confused Allura. “What are you talking about?”

“I’ll explain as soon as we can talk to Shiro.” Keith placed the necklace into Allura’s hands and walked up to the bridge. “All Paladins, this is Keith. Report to the _Explorer_ bridge. Allura and I have news that may help in the war effort.”

“ _Acknowledged,_ ” Sven responded. In a few minutes, everyone from the Castle of Lions assembled on the main bridge with Keith and Allura standing in front of the commander’s seats.

“Alright Keith, what’s this news you reported?” asked Shiro.

“It’s about this necklace I bought for Allura; she says it belonged to Honerva, the best scientist on Altea,” Keith explained.

“It does, I can assure you of that.” Allura nodded.

“But if it belonged to Honerva, then how did it end up in the possession of an Unilu?” asked Coran.

“We were wondering the same thing.” Keith pulled out the coordinates he was given by Ulaz. “And I have coordinates that may lead us to the answer. I found them while I was researching that Galra resistance we were trying to find.” Quickly, he moved over to Pidge’s console. “Pidge, think you can track these coordinates?”

“I’ll do what I can.” Pidge nodded and turned on the ship’s universal charts.

“Are you sure this resistance can tell us the story behind this necklace?” asked Hawkins.

“If they could infiltrate a high-security mining expedition on Luxia, then it should stand to reason that they’d have at least a few spies in Galra High Command.” Keith shrugged. “If anyone knows the story behind this necklace, it’s them.”

“How can we be so sure this isn’t just some sort of trap?” Newley asked rationally.

“Simple. We can’t.” Keith shrugged. “But if we have a chance to get allies and spies within the Galra Empire, then we have to take it.”

“I got it.” Pidge quickly pulled up the results of the coordinate scan on the main viewer to reveal a certain star system.

“Wait a minute. This can’t be right.” Lisa remarked. “That’s the Thaldycon System.”

“So?” asked Shannon.

“So… the Thaldycon System is on the edge of the Delta Quadrant of the Milky Way.” Lisa reminded. “And even then, there are no habitable planets within two-dozen lightyears of that system.”

“Wait, if that’s the case then how can this Galra resistance movement be positioned out there?” asked Jeff.

“Maybe they’re based on a space station or something.” Lance shrugged.

“Well, it’s the best lead we’ve got,” Shiro said contemplatively. “Lieutenant Qiligasz, lay in a course; Teleduv warp factor 3.”

“Aye, sir.” Cinda nodded, shifting the helm and pitch to aim the ship to the system.

“Petty Officer Jack, report,” Hawkins said into the coms. “How are the repairs coming?”

“ _Better now that we’ve got the scaultrite, sir,_ ” Cliff replied over the coms. “ _We should be able to get the Castle’s Teleduv system back up and running by the time we’re done at Thaldycon._ ”

“Good. Do you think the tractor beam will hold in slipspace?”

“ _Should be able to, sir. It’s Olkari technology._ ”

“Understood.” Hawkins moved to his seat to the right of the captain’s with a smile. “On your order, Captain.”

Newley simply sat in his seat and smirked out to the wild black yonder out past the shockproof windshield. “Engage.” At that simple command, the ship shot across the universe back to the Milky Way… unbeknownst of what they were about to meet.


	27. The Blades

The binary star system known as Thaldycon has long been quarantined by the races of the Galactic Coalition for hazardous reasons: the system’s second star had recently devolved into an abnormal white dwarf which put out high levels of delta radiation which not only interfered with sensors but if exposed to unprotected, even through an atmosphere, it would kill any organic life. And that’s to say nothing about the large xanthorium crystal clusters that circled the system as an outer asteroid belt, which contained highly unstable nitrate salts, with enough potential to blow any ship to scrap.

And yet, the crew of the _Explorer_ had somehow been talked into coming here, leaving warp just outside the xanthorium belt with the castle still in tow. “Engines reading full stop, Captain,” Wolo reported.

“Thank you, Lieutenant Kreutz.” Newley stood and nodded, moving to the main viewer. “Officer Stoker, scan for anything out of the ordinary.”

“Aye, sir.” Chip quickly sent the scanners turning around the system. “I don’t know what you expect me to find though; I mean the radiation in this system basically just turns the sensors into hood ornaments- oh holy cow look, I found something.” The scan results quickly came up on the main viewer in the windshield.

“What is that?” asked Keith.

“Not sure. Looks like some sort of distortion in space-time.” Chip retorted.

“Okay just thinkin’ out loud here, but if two kids fall out of that and through the windshield and then introduce themselves as Meg Murray and Charles Wallace, I’m going to scream,” Pidge said calmly.

“ _Wrinkle in Time_? Seriously Pidge, _that’s_ where your mind goes in this situation?” asked Lance.

“Oh I’m sorry, where does _your_ mind go?”

“Uh, _Star Trek_ Terran Empire style mirror universe? Duh?”

“Uh hellooo, have neither of you seen _Interstellar_?” asked Hunk

“Oh, goddammit Hunk. Uh, paging _Doctor Who_?” suggested Sven.

“Oh come on, am I the only one on this ship who’s seen _Stranger Things_?!” This last comment from Jeff led the discussion to cascade into a full-fledged argument around the whole bridge about which is the best piece of Earth fiction dealing with alternate universes, leaving Keith and Allura to watch on in dismayed awe.

“Are these sorts of debates always like this?” Allura asked.

“Surprisingly, this is on the tamer end of the spectrum.” Keith shrugged before they both walked off the bridge. “Anyway, while they’re all arguing who’s prettiest out of Patrick Stewart and David Tenant-”

“The answer is Kate Mulgrew!” someone yelled from beyond the door.

“Shut up Rocky!” Keith yelled back before clearing his throat and looking back at the princess. “I guess now’s as good a time as any to ask if you’re okay with this mission.”

Allura took a deep breath. “I still think this is a horrible idea, Keith. For all we know, those coordinates you found could just be for some sort of superweapon Zarkon wanted us to find.”

“So we find it and chuck it into one of the stars in this system; simple as that.” Keith shrugged. Allura was about to say something but Keith interrupted her. “Look, I know you hate the Galra for Yurak killing your father by proxy- don’t deny that, it’s true.”

“I accept it.” Allura nodded.

“Thank you. Now, where was I? Oh yeah; I’d hate ‘em too, proxy murder or not. But my point is that if we want to win this war, then we need as many eyes on the inside of this conflict as possible.”

Allura took a deep breath and looked back at Keith with a strong look in her eyes. “I realize that. But I trust you will understand if I still exercise caution.”

“That’s all I ask.” Keith nodded and smiled before turning back to the door to the bridge, still hearing the voices of the others shouting through it. “Now all that’s left to do is get those idiots under control.”

“Any ideas?”

“Eh. A few, but last time I checked, firing a live-ammo gun at the ceiling of a spaceship isn’t considered a good idea.” Keith shrugged. “Maybe something a little more simple. And loud.”

“Well then, you’ll excuse me if I don’t accompany you out there.” Allura smiled.

“Absolutely.” Keith nodded and walked onto the bridge himself to find the whole bridge still arguing like mad. Without trouble, he slipped over to Pidge’s console and quickly jumped to MyInstants.com where he simply looked up “airhorn” in the search bar. Once he did that, he routed the audio to the bridge’s speakers and pressed the button labeled as “VERY LOUD AIRHORN”. Once he did that, the sound effect echoed over the bridge and quickly drove everyone out of the argument to clutch their ears in pain. The sound effect only lasted a few seconds but it absolutely served its purpose.

“OW!!” Lance yelled first. “What the hell, Keith?!”

“Sorry. Needed to get your attention and that seemed like the fastest way to do it.” Keith shrugged, turning to the door. “You can come in now, Allura!”

The door then opened to the princess walking calmly onto the bridge past everyone to the end of the walk. “Thank you, Keith. That was getting rather annoying.”

“My pleasure. Now then gentlemen, how about we drop the sci-fi for right now and get on with the goddamn plan?” Keith said in a calm firmness.

Captain Newley blinked in surprise a few times before he chuckled. “Man. Now I think I can see why the Black Lion picked _you_.”

“Thanks. So. Plan, anyone?”

“Well, I guess we wait until something happens.” Shiro shrugged. “Nothing else we really _can_ do.” Suddenly the alarm started going off.

“Security Chief Ellington, report!” Commander Hawkins ordered.

“We’ve got an intruder!” Ginger reported, looking at the surveillance-sensor feeds from around the ship. “Deck 19; he just got into Elevator 7.”

“That’s just four levels up from the main power core chamber,” Sam remembered from when he helped build the _Explorer_. “Looks like we found the bomber from the Castle.”

“Looks like.” Ginger shrugged, turning on her coms to all decks. “Security, converge on Elevator 7; we have an intruder and I want him detained.” She quickly locked the elevator on Deck 17 and picked up a blaster.

Keith had a good idea of who this infiltrator might be, but he had to play along at least for now. “Paladins, armor up. Let’s go get in on the fun.” The others couldn’t argue with that as they quickly followed his command and moved to Deck 17 with all the others. “Spread out. You find him, report immediately and we’ll converge. Remember, only shoot to wound.”

“Yes sir!” everyone acknowledged and spread out across the deck. As Keith proceeded down the hallway, he carefully considered how he could tell if this intruder really _was_ Ulaz and not just some other intruder. Unfortunately, his thought process was interrupted by the fist that swiftly met his helmet’s face-plate, knocking him to the floor as his assailant ran away down the hall. He looked after him and judging from his physical build, Keith wouldn’t be surprised if he _was_ Galra beneath his black armor and robes.

“I got him!” he quickly said into the coms as he ran after the infiltrator. “Corridor 3, but he’s getting away.”

“ _On our way._ ” Lance’s report was followed by a large rumbling of footsteps through the hallways toward him. Keith quickly converted his Bayard to the blasters and fired them both near the enemy’s feet, stopping him.

“That was a warning shot,” he warned. “Surrender now or my aim improves.” This infiltrator, however, simply drew the large kukri-style blade off his back and jumped at Keith. Quickly he switched his Bayard back into sword-mode and intercepted the blade with his own. When he did this, however, Keith managed to see that not only was his attacker wearing some sort of mask with purple eye-lenses under their hood but that the craftsmanship of this agent’s blade looked suspiciously similar to his own knife, which confused him to no end.

“‘Of all creatures that breathe and move upon the earth…’” Keith was surprised by this but swiftly remembered where the quote came from and realized that it might be a challenge code.

“…‘Nothing is bred that is weaker than man’.” Once Keith finished the quote, this agent slowly lowered his blade before he removed his hood and collapsed his mask, revealing a pale purple and white face with yellow eyes. “Lemme guess… You’re Ulaz.”

Ulaz was about to answer when they both heard four blasters and a plasma arrow charging nearby. “Weapon on the ground, lizard! Hands behind your head, and get down on your knees!” Keith quickly looked and saw the other Paladins all aiming their weapons at Ulaz.

“Hey-hey! Whoa-whoa-whoa! Whoa! Hold your fire!” Keith yelled and got in the way. “This guy’s an agent of that resistance movement.”

“And we’re supposed to just take your word on that, boss?” asked Sven. “No offense, but I’m not sure we can trust a _Galra_ infiltrator.”

“Perhaps this will put your minds at ease.” Ulaz moved to lift his blade.

Naturally, this spooked Lance as he cocked his rifle. “Slowly.”

Ulaz raised his free hand as if to reassure the Paladins as he raised his sword to show them the symbol on the hilt. “I trust this looks familiar?”

The Paladins zoomed their HUDs into the sword until they saw the symbol and nodded. “Alright, you have our attention.” Lance lowered his rifle. “Let’s go.”

“Hold it.” Captain Newley walked up behind the Paladins. “Observation deck. Now.” And that is exactly where they went where Ulaz was swiftly cuffed and placed in a chair.

“I really don’t think this is necessary, Captain.” Keith brought up.

“I’m not about to allow a Galra on the bridge of either of our ships.” Newley reminded. “I’m sure you agree, Princess.”

“Absolutely,” Allura growled.

“If my objective were assassination, you would all be dead by now,” Ulaz said candidly.

“Are your Galra threats supposed to earn my trust?” Allura growled, grabbing Ulaz’s chestplate in rage.

“I’m not trying to earn your trust. I’m trying to win a war.” Ulaz said simply. “And now that Voltron has returned, we are closer now than ever before.” He then looked at Keith. “Nice to see my gamble on you paid off as well as I imagined it would, though I wouldn't mind a bit less security.”

“Well hey, you told me not to tell these guys anything or you’d skin me.” Keith shrugged.

“A threat which I had no intention of following through with,” Ulaz reassured.

“Wait a sec. Keith, you already knew about this guy?” asked Shiro.

“Yeah. I have since before Luxia.” Keith nodded, much to the shock of everyone. “I’ll explain later. Right now, I have my own questions. When you first introduced yourself to me, you mentioned that you worked for something called the Order of the Blade.”

“Yes. We work within the empire to destroy it through deceit and sabotage.” Ulaz explained.

“Wait-wait-wait. How did you get on-board anyway?” asked Pidge.

“I was part of the attack-force Yurak sent against the Castle of Lions on Arus,” Ulaz explained. “I slipped away when I heard the Black and Red Lions launch. I knew that if that sound was true, Voltron would return shortly after. I’m pleased to see I was right.”

“So what’s with the coordinates you gave me?” asked Keith. “You said there was a base out here.”

“I merely implied that, but yes; there is an outpost here, hidden. Shrouded by a wrinkle in the fabric of space-time.” Ulaz explained. “Now that I know we have made it, any and all Coalition ships are welcome here.”

“Wait a second.” Pidge realized. “Chip, you don’t think-?”

“ _Oh, I think alright Katie._ ” Chip replied over the coms. “ _That distortion I detected could definitely be that base he’s talking about._ ”

“Just fly straight toward the core of the xanthorium cluster. Then all will be revealed.” Ulaz reassured.

Newley chuckled. “You honestly expect me to trash my ship just because you tell me to?”

“No.” Keith stepped forward with a look of determination on his face. “ _I_ expect you to do whatever is necessary to win this war because _I_ say so.”

“Kogane, I hate to rain on your parade but you don’t have any authority over me.” Newley scowled.

“The Black Lion says otherwise. Don’t you, boy?!” Keith’s yell was answered by a roar from the aforementioned Lion. “We came out here to find answers about this resistance _and_ that necklace. Are you really going to just turn us away _now_? When we’re so close?”

“Look Keith, you know I trust you but something about this just doesn’t feel right to me,” Lance said contemplatively.

“Sorry to say it, boss-man, but it’s a big fat ditto for me too.” Sven shrugged.

Shiro was about to say something but Keith stopped him. “Stop. Look, as much as it pains me to do this, but as Black Paladin of Voltron, I am officially taking command of this mission. Anyone has a problem with that, you can take it up with either my Bayard or my Lion; whichever you prefer. Once I met Ulaz, Alfor told me that he might as well have been part of a Galran resistance movement. Without him or that guy on Luxia, we’d all be dead so either we do as he says or I’m taking the Black Lion and going solo.”

Shiro scowled at his protégé, but relented as he turned on the coms. “Hawkins, set course for the anomaly. Bring her in slow and easy.”

“ _Aye-aye, sir._ ” Hawkins nodded as the frontal feed was patched to all the monitors as the ship started coasting toward the cluster. “ _Cluster impact in 5…_ ”

“If we _do_ get destroyed here…” Newley warned Ulaz.

“ _4…_ ”

“You will no doubt inflict bodily harm upon me.” Ulaz finished. “I can assure you, Captain, there’s no need to worry.”

“ _3…_ ”

“Captain, he vouches for his people; I vouch for him.” Keith reminded.

“ _2…_ ”

“Maybe. But who vouches for you?” Newley asked.

“ _1._ ”

Allura had been clutching the necklace for a few seconds before she walked to his side. “I do.”

“ _Impact!_ ” Then suddenly, just before the ship hit the cluster, it shot through the rift and entered some sort of sub-dimension of Teleduv-warp slipspace, amazing everyone on board who saw the feeds.

“Well, there’s somethin’ ya don’t see every day,” Jeff said casually.

“And we work with aliens.” Lance brought up.

“This is incredible,” Sam said in awe. “They’re actually folding space-time.”

“It’s like a space taco.” Hunk said, trying to come up with a good food analogy. “Or a space calzone. Or a space-time soup dumpling and we’re the soup.”

“Hunk, do _not_ make me hungry right now.” Lance pointed at him in dulled anger. Suddenly the ship left the alternate slipspace dimension to come right near a strange space station set on an asteroid in an unusual void.

“Welcome to the Order of the Blade Listening Post Thaldycon,” Ulaz smirked, looking at Newley. “Do you believe me now?”

Newley could hardly articulate how incredible this was as he switched the coms back on. “Full stop, Hawkins.”

“ _Aye sir, full stop,_ ” Hawkins reported and stopped the ship.

“I thought so.” Ulaz smiled. “Now, if you will free me, I must meet with Listener Aaimin and transmit a message to the Grandmaster. They must know we have made contact with Voltron.”

“Keith and I are going with you.” Allura nodded. “I have some questions of my own, and I feel we still need to keep an eye on you, just in case.”

“Ooh! Can we go?” asked Hunk.

“I wanna see how they make the space pocket!” Pidge said happily.

“Of course. All are welcome who wish to come ashore.” Ulaz nodded as he stood up. “But first…” He held his manacled hands up to indicate he wished to be freed.

Captain Newley nodded and Ginger simply waved the key-card in front of the restraints and freed the soldier. Once done, the Paladins and Ulaz all went over to the station in the _Nile_ , where Ulaz pointed out a large glowing entity near the top of the station. “That is the gravity generator that creates the fold that hides the listening post. It was invented by a reclusive Theban engineer named Slav. His technology allows the Order to remain hidden from prying eyes while we work to dismantle the Galra Empire from the inside. I can assure you that Zarkon and Lotor would do anything to get their hands on this sort of technology.”

“So wait, there are Galra in the universe who _aren’t_ loyal to Zarkon? How’d that happen?” asked Lance.

“When Zarkon’s mind was twisted by the dark radiation from the crater on Korrinoth, he told our people that expanding the empire would bring stability,” Ulaz explained. “Unfortunately, we learned far too late that no tyrants seek stability, only absolute power over all creation.”

Suddenly the pod was hailed. “ _Incoming vessel, this is Listener Aaimin of the Order of the Blade. Please identify yourself._ ”

“Allow me.” Ulaz quickly opened a channel to the station. “This is Brother Ulaz with the Paladins of Voltron. Requesting permission to land.”

“ _Permission granted, brother. You are clear to dock on Pad 3._ ” Aaimin replied, illuminating the lights on the landing pad.

“Roger 3, on our way.” Keith nodded, flying the ship down to the pad. Once they landed, the whole group was led to the main listening deck where a large Blade was waiting for them.

“This is Listener Aaimin, the guardian of this station.” Ulaz introduced. “He was rejected from the imperial military for being half-Reptoid.”

“Yeah, I heard your army is pretty discriminatory against half-breeds.” Lance shrugged.

“Ugh. That’s putting it mildly.” Aaimin hissed. “My fellows hated me, not just for my blood but my rejection of the ways of the Empire.”

“Until our Grandmaster found him and recruited him to join us.” Ulaz finished. “Speaking of whom, Aaimin, I must speak with her.”

“Of course, brother.” Aaimin agreed, moving to the console. “Everything is going wonderfully so far, Ulaz. With our brothers and sisters working on the inside, planning coordinated attacks with Voltron and the Coalition Fleet, we may finally have a chance at winning this war.”

“I’m well aware, brother.” Ulaz smiled a bit.

“So you have agents working within the military?” asked Hunk.

“Of course. Do you not remember Brother Thace from Luxia?” asked Aaimin.

“Vividly.” Keith disagreed.

“Exactly. We have soldiers risking their lives in this war, just like the Coalition.” Ulaz nodded.

“Wait. Before that, I have a question.” Allura quickly moved forward and produced the necklace. “Keith found this on an Unilu swap-moon. It belongs to Honerva, Lotor’s mother. How could a black-market trader have gotten their claws on it?”

“Simple. Honerva gave it to Zarkon as a gift when Lotor was born. But Zarkon glorified the fact that Alteans are the enemy as they were the cause for Raggah becoming Haggar and himself becoming poisoned.” Aaimin explained. “He wanted no one to know he was associated with the enemy, so he got rid of it, enslaved Honerva and took a new wife. No one knows what happened to her after that.” Finally, the frequency was ready. “You may speak, Ulaz.”

Keith squinted, looking at the console as Ulaz moved to it and spoke to the grandmaster. Finally, he slipped over to Aaimin with his own question. “I’m trying to find someone too; my mother. She disappeared when I was a kid and I heard a rumor recently that said she might’ve been enslaved to work in one of Zarkon’s forges in the Vortex Nebula.”

“I wasn’t aware there were human prisoners imprisoned there before,” Aaimin said contemplatively. “When did she disappear?”

“Sixteen years ago. I was barely even two.” Keith said sadly, pulling out a picture of the blonde blue-eyed woman in a hug with his father when she was pregnant with Keith himself. “Her name’s Caroline Kogane.”

“I see. Let’s see what I can find.” Once Aaimin moved to the other console, Ulaz moved from the main console.

“Grandmaster Marmora was incredibly grateful to hear about our meeting you.” he smiled. “You are to meet with her immediately.” Lance’s eye suddenly caught on the weapon on Ulaz’s back.

“So what’s up with that sword? Is that why you guys are called Blades?” he asked.

“Yes. It’s a ceremonial weapon that each of our brothers and sisters carries.” Ulaz explained, drawing it. “The symbol is Galran for liberty, so when any drones we down with them see it, those who access its memory files will know that we come to liberate the universe from Zarkon’s grasp.”

“Huh. Nice message.” Lance complimented.

Suddenly an alarm started going off, drawing everyone’s attention. “What’s going on?”

“Proximity sensors, out near the rift.” Aaimin realized, moving to the main console and bringing up a feed from outside it.

Lance groaned when he recognized it. “Are you kidding me? _Another_ Robeast coffin?”

“You must’ve been tracked!” Ulaz realized.

“What? How?” asked Pidge.

“Simple,” Sven growled, drawing his ax and pointing it at Ulaz. “He ratted us out to Zarkon!”

Keith suddenly and viciously knocked Sven’s Bayard out of his hand and sent it to stick into the wall before he grabbed his fellow by the chestplate. “We are in the middle of gaining an _army_ of allies and you still think this is all just a trap?!” He moved away, giving Sven a light though still angry punch on the chestplate. “Tch! I can’t believe Romelle sees anything in you.”

“What was that?” Sven growled, grabbing his ax back.

“Guys, relax!” Hunk quickly said. “It doesn’t matter _how_ Zarkon found us; the point is he found us. And I say we stop him.”

Sven shrugged. “Can’t argue with that.” He scowled back at Keith and pointed his ax at him. “Either way, we are gonna have words, dude.”

“Absolutely.” Keith nodded. Suddenly the coffin stopped and burst open to reveal some sort of large bionic face which, to Aaimin, looked very familiar.

“Wait a moment. Are you serious?” he said, checking communications records.

“What is it, brother?” asked Ulaz.

“I knew it. That Robeast is Commander Prorok.” Aaimin replied.

“The guy in charge of that Balmera we liberated?” asked Lance.

“The same,” Aaimin replied. “Zarkon must’ve had Haggar transform him into a Robeast as punishment for failure."

“Man, Zarkon don’t mess around.” Hunk remarked.

“Agreed. Cmon, we gotta get to Voltron.” Keith quickly moved to start for the landing pad.

“Keith, wait!” Aaimin quickly caught up with him and handed him a data drive. “This drive contains instructions on how to reach the Order of the Blade’s headquarters. You must go there and meet with the Grandmaster, but before you do, you must find out how Zarkon is tracking you and disable it. If you do not, everything our Grandmasters have built over the last century will be lost.”

“Understood.” Keith nodded, taking the drive. “But what about my mom?”

“All the data I could find on the prisoners in the Vortex Nebula is there as well,” Aaimin explained. “Now go, quickly.”

“Right. Let’s go, guys!” With that, he quickly led all the Paladins to the runabout and then back to the ship. Once there, they ran to the airlock turbo-lift to the Castle… encountering Captain Newley on the way.

“I told you we shouldn’t have trusted these guys!” he yelled angrily.

“It wasn’t them, Captain!” Keith growled.

“How can you be so sure?” Keith finally pinned the captain to the wall in rage and showed him the drive and photo, letting the others run ahead.

“Because they helped me track down my mother! And if I can find her, then I’ll finally have some closure in this dumpster-fire of a life and be able to focus on my job better! So if you or anyone else even _thinks_ of denigrating the Order of the Blades any further, I will personally commit a one-man mutiny to make sure I can keep looking! Now out of my way!” He quickly ran down the hall after the others, leaving Newley against the wall with a lot to think about… including the fact that he probably should’ve worn the brown pants today.

Quickly, Keith caught up with the others just as they made it to the Castle. “You get everything out of your system, Keith?” Lance asked.

“Yeah. Sorry guys, I just got really hopeful about seeing my mom again and- oh my god, my com-unit was transmitting the whole time, wasn’t it?” he groaned, seeing the small microphone in his HUD.

“Yep. To the whole ship. And I gotta say, that was pretty hardcore, dude.” Sven shrugged. “So what’s the plan?”

“Why can’t we just hide here in the space-clam and wait for it to go away?” asked Hunk.

“Oh thanks Hunk, now I want chowder.” Lance groaned.

“Sven, get to the Castle’s weapon-station. Everyone else, to the Lions but don’t launch.” Keith ordered. “Let’s wait and see what this thing does first. I don’t wanna risk fighting it if we don’t have to.”

Unfortunately, it appeared the Paladins weren’t going to have much of a choice as the Robeast started scanning the xanthorium belt until it found the ripple. Then it opened its mouth to reveal a strange purple light which siphoned in a few of the clusters, before it closed its mouth and opened it again, this time firing out a massive red energy blast, which obliterated most of the clusters, before it managed to perfectly detect the rift, which it started flying toward.

“What’s the plan now, Keith?” asked Lance, having seen the whole thing in his cockpit.

“Hold position,” Keith ordered. “Cliff, how’re the repairs to the Castle coming?”

“ _Nearly done. At the very least, we’ve got the shield generator and weapons running again._ ” Cliff replied. “ _Still not enough power to go for a Teleduv jump yet though._ ”

The Robeast suddenly started firing on the rift, a few shots flying through and hitting the _Explorer_. “Direct hit, sir! Prorok definitely knows we’re here!” Jeff’s report was directed to Shiro as Captain Newley was in his cabin, still resolving his pants problem.

“Emergency power to shields! Ready all weapons on both ships!” Shiro’s order was quickly followed. Suddenly the Robeast stopped firing and sucked in more clusters, clearly reenergizing its weapon.

“Whoa!” Wolo and all the others suddenly felt a strange pulling, even through the ripple. “Man, that tractor-beam’s got some serious power.”

“Paladins, now would be a really good time to launch!” Shiro noted.

“Roger that.” Keith nodded. “All Lions, deploy! FORM VOLTRON!!!” With that order from the Black Paladin, the Lions quickly took off into formation.

The Black Lion’s forelegs folded into the body and it shifted for the head to be facing straight ahead like a human’s. Keith stood up and smiled as he dropped down the main cockpit chute.

The Red and Green Lions folded their legs as well and locked to the Black Lion’s shoulders, sending Lance and Pidge up to the cockpit as well. Once they were gone, the Lions’ jaws and heads unlocked and slid back on the arms, revealing large hands with circular plasma cannons in the palms.

The same thing happened to the Blue and Yellow Lions, but they locked to the Black Lion’s hind legs forming shins and feet, sending Hunk and Sven up to the cockpit as well. Once all the Lions had locked together, the Black Lion opened its mouth to reveal a silver metal plate which parted to reveal a silver face-plate with blue, red and green around the eyes, which suddenly flashed to solid yellow and the Black Lion’s gold ears folded out into tall horns.

Once all the Paladins were in the main cockpit, they all smiled as Voltron stood strong with Keith as he quickly sent the knight flying out, strong right hook ready to land. “Hey there, jackass!” Then with a little rocket-boost assistance from Lance, Voltron’s right hook knocked the Robeast completely off-balance and making its next shot miss by a lightyear. Unfortunately, the gravity generator suddenly lost power and the space-fold lowered, exposing the ships and the station. Then a small ship carrying what looked like an extra gravity generator flew off into the fray.

“Well, there goes Ulaz.” Hutch shrugged.

“Think he’s got some sort of plan?” asked Lisa.

Jeff shrugged. “He talked Keith into bringing us all here, didn’t he?”

“ _You know I can still hear you guys, right?_ ” Keith asked over the coms, before grunting as he had Voltron deliver another strong punch to the Robeast. “ _Now is a really bad time for you to be talking._ ”

“Oh. Sorry dude.” Jeff shrugged.

Keith shrugged and smirked as he made Voltron fly straight toward the Robeast, Black Bayard in hand. “Let’s light this bastard up. Plasma Roar!” Once he gave the command, the heads of the Red and Green Lions locked over Voltron’s hands and Keith aimed them both at the Robeast before opening them. He opened his mouth and all the other pulled the triggers, causing a massive torrent of energy to shoot out of all five of Voltron’s mouths, hitting the Robeast right in the face.

Once the plasma faded, both hands returned to normal and Keith grabbed his throat. “Whew. Man, that felt weird. I am gonna need a big drink of water once this is over.” Unfortunately, that was probably a long ways away as the Robeast wasn’t even scratched. “Ugh. Alright, looks like we’re doing this the hard way. Form Blazing Sword!” Once the sword formed, the Robeast quickly filled back up on xanthorium before firing on Voltron, though he quickly dodged at Keith’s order. “Okay, any ideas here guys? I’m all ears.”

“It looks like this thing’s only weapon is its mouth. We block that, we win this fight.” Hunk rationalized.

“Sounds good, but I don’t think we have any weapons capable of that.” Lance shrugged. “Apart from the shield, and we might need that just to be safe.”

Suddenly Keith heard Voltron growling in his head again and he smirked. “Sounds like we don’t have to worry about that.” Quickly he secured the Blazing Sword to his back and slammed his fists together again, before pulling them apart to form a line and then spinning them to form a circle which he grabbed. “Form Spinning Laser Blade!” Voltron copied his moves exactly and formed a large silver ring with eight points and a yellow cross in the center.

“Oh yeah. This’ll work.” Lance smirked. “Time to Captain America this bolt-brain!”

“My thoughts exactly,” Keith smirked and quickly tossed the blade at the Robeast just like the great soldier, allowing it to quickly get caught in the enemy’s mouth and jam it stuck. “Now’s our chance! Brace yourselves!” Voltron quickly drew the Blazing Sword and shot toward the enemy like a bullet, stabbing the Robeast onto the sword and ramming it straight through the remaining xanthorium clusters, causing damage with every blast.

Then Hunk saw something on his monitor that he liked. “Hey, let him go real quick! This might be awesome!” Keith was confused but complied, kicking the enemy away with its mouth still jammed. Once it was out of range, Hunk pressed the button on his monitor and the laser blade exploded even bigger than any of the clusters. Everyone smirked in victory until they saw it was still somehow intact, ramshackle though it may have been.

“Ugh. Are you kidding me?! What is it gonna take to kill this thing?!” asked Keith.

“ _Maybe this!_ ” This familiar voice on the coms worried Keith monumentally.

“Ulaz? What’re you doing?!” he asked as the Blade’s fighter flew in.

“ _I’m going to take it down from the inside!_ ”

“That’s suicide, man! Think about what you’re doing!” Keith reminded.

“My destiny in this war has already been determined,” Ulaz said calmly. “But yours has yet to come. The universe still needs you, Keith. You _and_ Voltron. Farewell. I will see you in Stor-ko-van.”

“Stor-ko-what?” asked Lance.

“The Galra afterlife, where they may finally rest after a long and glorious battle,” Allura explained.

Keith growled, not wanting him to die but smiled. “See you there, Ulaz.” With that, Voltron backed off and allowed Ulaz’s fighter to fly directly down the Robeast’s gullet before the device started collapsing. “Pidge?”

“Ulaz activated the gravity generator. The space-pocket is opening inside the Robeast!” he said. “Fascinating!”

“Well, you can be fascinated by it from a safe distance.” Keith nodded. “Hang on tight guys.” Quickly, he sent Voltron flying away from the Robeast just before it disappeared into nothingness and gave a bright purple explosion.

“That was awesome.” Lance smiled in awe.

Keith looked on in mournfulness at his friend’s death and had Voltron salute. “See you in the stars, buddy.”

After that, the _Explorer_ was on its way to the Altea System and Keith was sitting at the bar in the commissary with a glass of water when someone walked over. “Mind if I sit?” Keith recognized the voice of Captain Newley and simply indicated that he could join him. The captain sat down and a beer slid down the bar to his hand.

“Here to tell me how we shouldn’t have trusted Ulaz?” Keith asked bitterly before taking a swig of water.

“Actually I came to apologize.” This drew Keith’s attention as he turned to the captain, seeing that he had resolved the pants problem from earlier. “It _is_ about Ulaz, though. I’m sorry we doubted him. He saved us all. We owe him big time for that.”

Keith smiled a bit but looked back to the bottom of his glass. “I still have so many questions. What did he mean when he said his destiny was already determined? How did Zarkon track us down? Where is my mother?”

“All questions that will undoubtedly be answered in time.” Rick nodded in understanding. “Also, I’m sorry about what happened in the hall earlier; Caroline was always the light of the Garrison. She and Trevor were some of the best cadets I ever had the honor of serving with.” Keith smiled at the captain as he placed a hand on the Paladin’s shoulder. “We’ll find her. I can promise you that, Lieutenant.” With that, he simply stood up and moved away until Keith realized what he said.

“Wait a sec, did you just say Lieutenant?” he asked.

Rick looked back at Keith with a smirk. “Yeah. I brought up this whole thing with Admiral Sanda and she really liked your gumption to pin an officer to voice your… concerns.” He turned to face Keith with respect. “And for that, and finding us a group of allies, she’s promoted you to the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade.”

Keith smiled and stood to shake the captain’s hand. “Thank you, sir.”

“Don’t worry about it, kid. I left your uniform in your quarters on the Castle.” Rick smiled. “Cliff says the repairs should be done by the time we reach Pollux, so that should give you more than enough time to figure out how you’re being tracked.”

“Yes, sir.” Keith quickly slugged down the last of his water and walked off to the castle.

Once he made it to his quarters, he was happy to see his new officer’s uniform on a hanger hooked onto a peg on the wall. He smiled as he saw the two pips on his lapel: one gold, one black; the mark of a Junior-grade Lieutenant of the Coalition fleet.

He almost considered putting it on, but then he remembered something his father had told him; something concerning his knife. He sat at his desk and opened the drawer to pull out a small holo-projector which he placed on his desk alongside his knife. He pressed the button on the projector and a small hologram of his father was projected to stand on it. “Hey there, Rooster.” Keith smiled; he missed that nickname his dad gave him for getting up so early every day. “If you’re watching this, it means you’re older now and you’ve started to figure out what happened to your mom. You’ve probably seen this symbol by now.” He held up a small picture of the same symbol he saw on Ulaz’s sword, which confused him to no end. “Your mom told me it means liberty in her people’s language.” He chuckled. “I know how crazy this sounds, but yeah; your mom isn’t from Vegas like I told you. Her name’s Krolia and she’s part of some alien race I’ve never heard of called the Galra.” Keith was stunned; he was half-Galra?! This couldn’t be possible, and yet here his father’s message was, telling him this itself. “She’s part of this secret society called the Order of the Blade; some sort of resistance movement against her species’ tyrannical emperor. She left me this to give to you.” Keith was stunned; his father had just pulled out Keith’s knife, freshly wrapped in high-durability bandages at the guard as it had been since Keith received it after his father died. “Once you finish watching this message, the projector will open and you’ll find what you need to cut these wrappings. She says you’ll be able to find her after that.” Trevor extended a hand toward Keith and though he knew his father was just moving to turn the recorder off, he couldn’t help but extend his finger to him and touch them together. “I love you, son.” With that, the hologram turned off and the projector unlocked.

Keith quickly opened it to find a small precision laser. He fished it out and turned it on, pointed at the bandages and quickly fired, burning a cut in them. He unwrapped the weapon and was stunned to see the symbol on his blade. Which only meant one thing: his mother wasn’t a slave; she was a freedom fighter, so Keith still had a chance to find her. And he was going to take it no matter what.

**Yeah, that's right. How's that for a plot twist? And in case you're wondering, yes I am having the Coalition use the Starfleet ranking system from Star Trek. Specifically, this system:[https://www.kuro-rpg.net/?direct=guest_ranks_viewer&id=111](https://www.kuro-rpg.net/?direct=guest_ranks_viewer&id=111)**


	28. Lions to the Den

Keith was still staring at his mother’s knife, now rewrapped in looser bandages as if asking why she had left. He would’ve been fine with being half-alien; heck, Krik and Cinda were half-Betran cousins which gave them both telepathic powers and those came in stupidly handy more often than not. Suddenly, the ship started shaking and the ship-wide coms sounded with the boatswain’s whistle. “ _Attention all hands, this is Captain Newley: be advised; we are now entering the atmosphere of Planet Pollux and will be setting the Castle of Lions down before we ourselves land._ ”

Keith smirked; finally, the Castle would be ready to fly without the aid of _Explorer_. It took a few minutes for both ships to get docking clearance from Pollux Air Control but eventually, the crews were clear to disembark and find none other than Prince Avok himself waiting for them at the landing pad.

“Welcome back to Pollux, Paladins.” Avok was clearly feeling better as he was now standing without the aid of the wheelchair. He bowed to his guests before he stood and smiled broadly. “Holgersson!”

“Your Highness.” Sven smiled and grabbed the prince right back in the hug he was given, both giving a kind chuckle. “It’s good to see you again.”

“And you, my friend. My father told me of your eh, heh-heh, ‘designs’ on Romelle and I must say I wholeheartedly agree with his decision.” Romelle blushed madly at her brother’s comment, but Sven just looked over at Lance again with a glare in his eyes.

“Which reminds me…” Lance just recoiled and gave a nervous chuckle. “I never did thank you for letting that slip.”

“Yeah well, uh… would it be out of the question of me to request a 30-second headstart before the thanks?” he asked.

“You get five. Make ‘em count.” Lance quickly did exactly that; running for his life from the landing pad screaming like he was being chased by Michael Myers from _Halloween_. Once the five seconds passed, Sven smiled as he calmly stepped away from the others. “Scuse me. I’ll be right back.” The others weren’t too worried… until Sven activated his ax and ran after Lance.

“Oh goddamn it Sven.” Keith groaned as he rubbed his right temple. “We should probably stop him from killing Lance.”

“Cmon Keith, Sven’s angry; sure, but he’s not crazy.” Jeff shrugged.

“I hope you’re right, dude. For both their sakes.” Finally, after much pointless shenaniganry, the group finally got the ax-wielding Paladin to lay off of Lance long enough for the latter to apologize and for everyone to sit down to an incredible lunch at the palace, during which Jeff managed to pitch one of his more… colorful mission ideas for the _Explorer_.

“You’re kidding, right Jeff?”

“Don’t bother Keith.” Lisa rolled her eyes and glared at Jeff. “Everyone on the ship has tried talking him out of it and he hasn’t listened to any of us. Not even me.”

“Even so, are you sure destroying Thaldycon Beta is the best course of action?”

Jeff shrugged in response to Allura’s question. “Only if we want any terraforming we do in the system to actually make a difference.”

“There _is_ an easier way, Dukane.” Coba shrugged happily. “Simply deploy a gamma protomatter device into the star’s photosphere.”

Jeff went wide-eyed and just facepalmed. “Of course that would work! Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Oh, Shábháil Dia mé.” Shannon groaned under his breath. (Translation from Irish Gaelic: “God help me.)

“I heard that.”

“But do ya know what it meant?” Shannon raised an eyebrow with a smirk. Jeff opened his mouth to say something but then he just closed his mouth again and groaned. “Thought so.”

“See, Cap’n? _That’s_ why we need auto-translation chips in our helmets.” Cliff brought up. “So we can tell when Shannon’s puttin’ someone on the barby in Irish.”

“I understand that Cliff, and trust me; it’s on my priority list but we’ve got more pressing matters to deal with.”

“Rick’s right.” Shiro nodded. “Thank you for your hospitality King Coba, but we’re only gonna be here for a few days while we get the castle fixed and prepare to head back out.”

“Of course. I will certainly endeavor to ensure that your stay here is a pleasant one.” The king bowed. “It’s the least a man can do for his family, which I think of you all as.”

“My thanks, Uncle.” Allura stood and bowed respectfully. “And you are equally welcome on our ships.”

“I second that emotion.” Rick smiled. “The _Explorer_ is yours.”

It was that which prompted Cinda to stand up. “Well then, if no one minds, I’m gonna go change and then I’m gonna hit the pool.”

“You have a pool?” Chip smirked at his cousin’s question.

“One of the many perks of working on a colonization ship; you get to live a life of luxury, even in a war.”

“Well, if that’s the case, then I might just join you.” Allura smiled.

“I’m in too!”

“And _there’s_ the Lance we all remember.” Keith grabbed his second and pulled him back down into his seat. “No ogling the bikinis, dude.”

“Aw come on Keith, you know me better than that.”

“Yeah, I do. Which is why I’m telling you not to do what I know you’re thinking about doing.”

“Nyeh.” That was the last (admittedly cute) sound to leave Lance’s mouth that evening as he crossed his arms and left for his cabin on the castle.

Later on that evening, Keith was in his Lion’s hangar looking around the great beast with Alfor. “Okay so just to be completely sure I have it right; both Zarkon _and_ the Lions have been sealed away since the final battle a hundred years ago.”

“Correct. And since we all assumed Zarkon was dead, it stood to reason to believe that his link to the black centroid of the great Knight was severed when he fell.”

“Wait-wait-wait, ‘link’?” Keith was confused by this. “What link?”

“What? Oh of course, I must’ve forgotten to explain that part.” The holographic king bonked his head against the heel of his hand and moved closer to Keith. “You see, Voltron’s appendages imprinted on those of us who brought him to life all those years ago. When Voltron was defeated and broken apart, all the rest of us original Paladins lost our connection to the Lions, and since Zarkon was considered the enemy; never mind thought dead, we believed he had lost his connection as well.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well the connection allowed us Paladins to speak with Voltron over infinite lightyears, so if somehow Zarkon _hasn’t_ lost his connection…”

Keith quickly got the idea. “Then maybe he’s been tracking us through the Black Lion’s mind.” But suddenly he realized something even worse. “But if that’s the case, then he might have a fleet bound straight for us right this minute!”

Alfor chuckled. “Don’t be preposterous, Keith. You know about the Oort Field; this system has the best stellar security in the Coalition.”

“Bet that’s what you thought before Yurak attacked Arus.”

“An unfortunate occurrence, but it was simply due to the fact that the field was down for maintenance to the projection satellites,” Alfor reassured. “They’ve long since been reactivated after the attack on Arus.”

Keith wasn’t so sure, but he just shrugged and looked back up at his Lion, glancing to his belt as he knew he still had his knife sheathed on the back. “Your majesty… do you remember what happened to my father?”

“Trevor?” Alfor became somber. “How could I forget? His death was one of the greatest incidents in the Coalition’s early history. Hundreds in this system still mourn his death and give you their greatest sympathies for his loss.”

“Well… did you ever meet my mother? Caroline?”

“Not that I recall. I don’t believe she ever came to Altea. But if she was your mother, I’m sure she was a wonderful woman.”

“Maybe. I don’t remember a lot about her.” Keith shrugged, leaning against his Lion’s paw. “She left us before I was even two years old. Once she did, my dad sorta… shut down. We barely talked outside of registration for the Garrison. I just feel like… maybe if I find my mom, I could ask her why she left us. And tell her that Dad never stopped loving her.”

Alfor smiled at the paladin and kneeled in front of him, adjusting the collar of the young man’s vest as they looked each other straight in the eye. “We’ll find her. I promise.”

Keith smiled and gave the king a simple hug around the neck. “I know.” Suddenly, his helmet-com started beeping. Quickly, he donned the headpiece and pressed the receiver. “Go for Kogane.”

“ _It’s me._ ” Pidge. “ _We’re receiving a communique from Altean Defense Command._ ”

“Put it on the main viewer. I’ll be up in a second.” And indeed he was, racing up to the bridge in the hangar turbo-lift just in time to see a pale female Altean with magenta hair and sea-blue eyes with a mole right below her mouth wearing an Altean military uniform.

“ _This is Commodore Hira of Altean Defense Command to the Castle of Lions. Black Paladin, please respond._ ”

“I’m here Commodore. Junior Lieutenant Keith Kogane of Earth, reporting for duty.” Naturally, the news of his promotion surprised the other Paladins but Keith stayed on topic. “What’s going on?”

“ _We’ve detected an unknown starcraft entering the system. It appears to be coming from the stellar border._ ”

“Another Robeast coffin?” Pidge theorized.

“ _Unclear. It’s still too far out of satellite sensor range to get a visual identification._ ”

“What do you think the chances are of it breaching the Oort Field?” asked Keith.

“ _Extremely minimal, Paladin._ ” Unfortunately, just as she said that an alarm went off in her post.

“ _Commodore, another vessel just left slipspace only a few kilometers from one of the projection satellites._ ” a sub-commander reported. “ _It’s a standard Galra warship. Its hyper-ion cannon is aimed directly at one of the satellites, and charging!_ ”

“ _Divert full power on that satellite to self-preservation systems!_ ” Hira ordered. “ _Paladins, you must be ready! The satellite the other bogie is aimed for is directly above Pollux!_ ” That was the most distressing part as Pollux’s orbit placed it so that the first place the Robeast would land was the capital city.

“We’re on it. Castle of Lions out.” With that, the communication was terminated and Keith turned to the others. “Alright Paladins, armor up. Shiro, send word to Captain Newley and tell him to get whatever parts of V-15 they have on the _Explorer_ deployed and ready for battle. Coran, tell King Coba to evacuate the capital to the emergency shelter! This might be fun!”

“Understood!” everyone bellowed before following his orders.


	29. Voltron VS Gladiator Robeast-Frame

Once all the Paladins were in their armor, they quickly deployed the Lions and Keith gave the command; “FORM VOLTRON!!!”

The Black Lion’s forelegs folded into the body and it shifted for the head to be facing straight ahead like a human’s. Keith stood up and smiled as he dropped down the main cockpit chute.

The Red and Green Lions folded their legs as well and locked to the Black Lion’s shoulders, sending Lance and Pidge up to the cockpit as well. Once they were gone, the Lions’ jaws and heads unlocked and slid back on the arms, revealing large hands with circular plasma cannons in the palms.

The same thing happened to the Blue and Yellow Lions, but they locked to the Black Lion’s hind legs forming shins and feet, sending Hunk and Allura up to the cockpit as well. Once all the Lions had locked together, the Black Lion opened its mouth to reveal a silver metal plate which parted to reveal a silver face-plate with blue, red and green around the eyes, which suddenly flashed to solid yellow and the Black Lion’s gold ears folded out into tall horns.

Once all the Paladins were in the main cockpit, they all smiled as Voltron stood strong in the center of town. “Pidge, report.”

“I managed to connect with the satellite network and it looks like Hira’s orders are paying off; the satellite’s particle barrier is holding up fairly well,” she replied to her commander.

“ _Naturally. Those satellites require a lot of power to maintain the Oort Field._ ” Coran said proudly. “ _But I’m concerned it may not hold long._ ”

“Don’t worry Coran. If that coffin gets through, Pollux will be safe.” Keith smirked.

“ _I can verify that,_ ” Keith smirked; that was definitely Commander Hawkins. And that thought was confirmed when two large helicopters, a massive jet-powered tank-lookin’ thing, and a small craft that looked like the nose of a late 20th-century rocket ship flew into the area along with the Falcon VT Fighter. “ _All V-15 units, sound off._ ”

“ _Strato-1 standing by._ ” Jeff.  
“ _Strato-2 standin’ by._ ” Rocky.  
“ _Strato-3 standing by._ ” Wolo.  
“ _Strato-4 standing by._ ” Chip.  
“ _Strato-5 standing by._ ” Ginger.

Keith smirked, happy knowing Voltron was going to have help in this fight but was surprised when something surfaced in the city canals. A few somethings actually; two amphibious tanks, two aquatic probe-subs with treads and one exploration sub.

“ _Aqua-1 standing by._ ” Krik.  
“ _Aqua-2 standing by._ ” Lisa.  
“ _Aqua-3 standing by._ ” Tagor.  
“ _Aqua-4 standin’ by._ ” Shannon.  
“ _Aqua-5 standing by._ ” Zandee.

“Whoa. Where’d you guys find more Voltonium?” Hunk’s question had some credit to it; it was an important question.

“ _Brek if ya can believe that._ ” Shannon laughed. “ _We found it there before we went to get you on the Balmera. Mind you, the natives gave us no end of grief for diggin’ up half their planet for a few kilotons a’ ‘worthless’ metal._ ”

Keith smirked. “I can imagine. Got any more parts we should know about?”

“ _Unfortunately no. Not yet._ ” Chip shrugged over the coms. “ _We managed to find the last five vehicles’ worth on Brek along with the stuff for the Aqua Team, but the engineers on Altea are still working on them._ ”

“And anyway, us ten should be enough for this job,” Jeff smirked. “Engineers here made sure to build all these bad boys with copious amounts of weapons.”

“Perfect,” Keith smirked, turning on the coms. “Commodore Hira, what’s your status?”

“ _The satellite has drawn too much power to its personal shields! The Oort Field matrix is about to fall!_ ” she replied.

“Just leave it to us, ma’am. We can handle this.” Lance’s smirk was well-founded since he hadn’t seen inside the coffin yet. But he would as the field matrix suddenly failed and the coffin shot straight through the hole without much trouble, crashing into the city a few yards away from Voltron.

“Let’s start things off strong,” Keith smirked and drew his Bayard. “Form Blazing Sword!” Once the blade materialized in the knight’s hand, the coffin opened and revealed a large purple Robeast with a strange-looking eye and some sort of weapon for a right hand.

“Well, credit where it’s due; Zarkon knows how to make some pretty crazy stuff.” Lance shrugged. Then the Robeast locked targeting on Voltron and raised its weapon-arm, spinning it until a large purple energy orb formed at the top.

“ _Enemy engaging. Weapons free!_ ” Jeff ordered, and all the vehicles started firing on the Robeast, but the blasts barely even seemed to faze him as he continued to charge until his weapon was ready. Once it was, the Robeast tossed the orb directly at Voltron.

“Shield!” Pidge quickly followed Lance’s order and the shield was raised just seconds before the orb hit them, letting it bounce off the shield. Once it was off, Keith moved Voltron in to engage with the Robeast but the orb just hit him in the back and knocked Voltron to the ground. And just before Keith could get the knight back on his feet, the Robeast drove his foot on top of Voltron’s head.

“Gah!” Then he saw out of the corner of Voltron’s eye, the orb was approaching at an incredible speed. Quickly, he raised Voltron’s left arm and locked the Lion’s head over the hand, firing a massive plasma-roar at the orb, but it didn’t even knock the orb off its course straight into Voltron’s chest. Once it bounced off there, it returned to the Robeast’s hand where it seemed to begin recharging.

It was about to come crashing down when all the vehicles flew in and lit the thing up. “ _Keep ‘em covered, people! Keith, get outta there!_ ”

“Way ahead of ya!” Keith groaned as he pulled himself up and out from under the Robeast’s boot, slipping away as quickly as he could. “Let’s take this somewhere we’ll cause less destruction, shall we?” With that, Voltron shot forward and grabbed the Robeast by the waist before flying it away from the city to a large grassland near a river just outside the city where the knight immediately tossed the Robeast to the ground before following it to the ground.

Unfortunately, the Paladins hadn’t noticed that mid-flight, the Robeast had launched the orb until it came straight down toward them from the right, hitting Voltron across the face. “AAGH!!” Keith naturally stumbled in the cockpit at that as it felt like Hunk had just punched him in the face.

“I don’t think we can take this thing alone, guys!” Pidge rationalized. “We need V-15!”

“I doubt this Robeast will wait until the engineers on Altea are done constructing the other vehicles to continue.” Allura brought up. “We have to do something now.”

“I got it!” Lance smirked. “Allura, give Keith a boost. We’re gonna power-kick that orb thing!”

“What? No-no-no-no, bad idea!” Keith said quickly. “Last time we tried that; we fell on Voltron’s tailbone!”

“Stop living in the past and do it!” Lance growled. Keith groaned but figured he might as well as he took Voltron into the air before shooting down with full thrust on the boosters, right leg outstretched as he and Allura yelled with power. It would’ve worked if not for the fact that some-crazy-how, the orb literally curved around the Blue Lion’s head and continued on its course to Voltron’s mid-section.

“Oh-shit.” was all Lance could say as Voltron was sent spinning before it fell into the ground right on its tailbone unit.

“AOW!” Keith yelled before doing something that sounded like pained crying. “I warned you, dude!”

“How was I supposed to know that orb defies the laws of physics!?” Lance asked, slightly pissed off. “Look, anyone got a strategy?”

“Every time we focus on the orb, the Robeast blindsides us.” Hunk analyzed. “And every time we focus on the Robeast, the orb hits us in the face.”

“So then what’s the plan?” asked Pidge.

“ORB!” Hunk yelled as it shot straight toward Voltron. Keith quickly raised the Blazing Sword to try and block it, but the orb simply knocked it out of Voltron’s hand and straight back to the outskirts of the city.

“Great. Now what?” groaned Lance.

“ _Guys, I think I isolated a weakness!_ ” Chip quickly said over the coms as the orb returned to the Robeast’s hand. “ _Every time the orb returns to the weapon, there’s a loud ‘thwump’ sound. And every third time, the orb needs to recharge!_ ”

“Then recharge time is this thing’s weakest moment- that’s genius!” Pidge smiled.

“So what do we do in the meantime?” asked Lance.

“We play defense and get the sword back,” Keith said simply. “Jeff, you guys keep us covered!”

“ _Copy that!_ ” Jeff replied as all the vehicles flew around the Robeast like bugs. “ _All units, lay down suppressing fire for Voltron!_ ” But then Sven, who was sitting in the back of the main cockpit, heard Voltron’s growling in his mind.

“Keith, I think I have an idea that might help! Heads-up!” Quickly he tossed the white bayard to Keith, who easily caught it and smiled as he knew where this was going as he heard Voltron’s growling as well.

“Great minds hear alike, I guess.” With that, he quickly slammed his fists together with the Bayard in them. “Form Shining Ax!” Once the large pole of light formed outside Voltron, the knight grabbed it and held it strong in both hands as it appeared in the form of a bo-staff… until two large blue ax-blades emerged from the top of the handle.

“Nice!” Lance smirked as a similar weapon formed in Keith’s hands from the Bayard. “Let’s see what this bad boy can do!” Then the orb came shooting toward the great knight.

Keith smirked as he remembered the Garrison when he was teaching Wolo and the other Luxian lieutenants how to play baseball. “Batter at the plate, and-!” And he quickly swung the ax’s flat at the orb so hard, that it sent the orb shooting off in another direction like a baseball. “It’s outta the park!”

“What?” Lance smirked; he had almost forgotten that Allura was new to the academy, never mind Earth, so she didn’t know about baseball yet.

“Remind me to get the team some Padres tickets next time we're all on shore-leave,” he smirked.

“Either way; one down, two to go,” Keith smirked as he had Voltron fall back and grab the sword up in the red hand. And indeed, the orb came swinging back around toward Voltron. But this time, one well-placed slash from the Blazing Sword knocked it off-course again, though it also knocked Voltron back a few steps.

“I don’t think we can take much more!” Hunk yelled. “We’re losing power!”

“Yeah, and that’s a single orb. The recharge panel won’t work in this fight unless someone shoots at us.” Lance rationalized.

“Last shot incoming!” Pidge yelled.

“Brace for impact!” Keith yelled as he dropped both weapons and held the shield directly in front of Voltron. But the orb knocked the shield away and sent Voltron back until he was barely an inch away from an apartment complex. Quickly, the knight grabbed up its weapons and moved as the orb returned to the Robeast’s weapon. “Now! Engage, engage!” Quickly, the others all brought the thrusters to full power and sent Voltron flying forward at full strength. One strong swing with the ax and the Robeast’s weapon arm disengaged from the body. But just as the sword was about to come down as well, the disembodied arm suddenly flew up into the way and blocked the blade.

“What the hell!?” was all Lance could say as the Robeast’s weapon-charge port extended three large fingers and the orb floated between the joint and the unit’s shoulder as if to serve as a connector. Then with one strong backhand, the Robeast knocked the knight away and sent him faceplanting into the dirt. This fight might take a while.


	30. Guardian Force

“Ugh. Great. This thing’s tough, _and_ he can fight.” Keith groaned as he pulled himself and Voltron up to face the Robeast.

“Worse than that; he fights smart.” Pidge analyzed. “Chip, we need back-up now! How long until V-15 is ready?”

“ _I don’t know; the other units should be here in a few minutes,_ ” he replied.

“ _Sooner than that._ ” a female voice replied.

Shiro was surprised by who it sounded like. “No way. Ryner?” And indeed; a female Olkari soon appeared on the visual screen on the castle and the _Explorer_.

“ _Good to see you too Shiro. Afternoon Rick_.” Ryner was the first Olkari to join Starfleet twelve years ago and as such, she was a good friend of Shiro and Captain Newley.

“Are the new units ready to be deployed?”

“ _All set, Rick. All we need are the pilots._ ”

“Understood.” Hawkins saluted and turned away from the viewer. “Turbo Terrain team, front-and-center!” At that order; Cliff, Modoc, Hutch, Marvin, and Cinda moved up and saluted.

“Reporting for duty, sir!” Cliff reported.

“Good. Now get to a runabout and get to that transport. Then get your rides and get out there. Voltron needs back-up.” Hawkins ordered. “Understood?”

“Sir yes sir!” the five all yelled before they ran off to another runabout; the _Rubicon_ which quickly took off for the transport, landing on the pad and allowing everyone to see the large vehicles held on the deck with small tractor beams; a high-tech semi-truck, two racers with four headlights, and two large Jeep-like cars.

“Blimmin’ ‘eck.” Cliff smiled as Ryner walked out. “S’pose these’re fer us?”

Ryner smiled as she produced a handful of high-tech looking car-keys. “Try not to scratch them.”

Hutch quickly took his key and ran to the black Jeep, donning his helmet before he opened the door. “No promises!”

The others quickly followed suit and locked in, revving their engines up. “ _Alright team, sound off,_ ” ordered Hawkins.

“Turbo Terrain-1 standin’ by.” Cliff in the rig.  
“Turbo Terrain-2 standing by.” Cinda in the blue racer.  
“Turbo Terrain-3 standing by.” Modoc in the red racer.  
“Turbo Terrain-4 standing by.” Marvin in the yellow Jeep.  
“Turbo Terrain-5 standing by.” Hutch in the black Jeep.

“Alright guys, let’s do this.” Cliff smirked as he turned on Deep Purple’s “Highway Star” on the external speakers of his vehicle; the Jet Radar Station. With that, the tractor beams were disengaged and all five vehicles shot off the deck and free-fell toward the fight, firing weapons all the way down.

“YEE-HAW!” yelled Hutch. “This is awesome!” Once the vehicles hit the ground, they all floored it around the Robeast, firing all the time.

“Nice entrance guys!” Jeff laughed. “But I think it might be time to get serious here. We need to try and combine.”

“How?” asked Lisa. “We _literally_ just got the whole team together.”

“ _Just concentrate on an image of V-15 in your heads!_ ” Keith instructed over the coms. “ _That’s how it worked for us!_ ”

“Well, I guess it’s worth a shot.” Jeff shrugged and closed his eyes along with everyone else. Suddenly it came to them as all the vehicles were suddenly drawn together.

“Engage V-15 Combination!” At the command from Driver 1, the vehicles all started driving in sync.

“Form Feet and Legs!” The All-Terrain Space Vehicles drove side-by-side; Marvin on the right, Hutch on the right. The Multi-Wheeled Explorers locked into their roofs by their rear-ends; Shannon on the right, Zandee on the left before the Sea Probers locked on top of them; Lisa on the right, Tagor on the left. Cliff shot his truck up into the air and locked on top of the leg assemblies.

“Form Arms and Body!” The Advanced Recon Helicopters flew down and locked their tails to the rear-ends to the racers; Wolo to Cinda’s Rotating Personnel Carrier and Chip to Modoc’s Advanced Equipment Carrier, the latter of which on both opened up to form hands. Then Krik’s Communications Module locked on top of the leg-unit before both arms locked onto Rocky’s Strato Weapons Module and flew it into place to lock onto the entire assembly before Ginger flew the Falcon VT Fighter in and locked it on as a chestplate with the cockpit aiming down.

“And I’ll Form the Head!” With that, Jeff flew his Command Jet Explorer and landed it on top of the entire body. Once in place, a panel opened and revealed a black and silver face before the eyes activated with yellow light as every pilot was sent to the central cockpit in the chest; Jeff, Cliff and Krik standing on control circles and everyone else at command stations placed according to V-15’s orientation (each seat illuminated indigo, sky-blue, and red respectively based on each Driver-team’s uniforms).

“Whoa. This is weird.” Jeff said candidly.

“Are you kidding? This is awesome!” Hutch yelled.

“Yeah, but how do we do this? That’s the question.” Cliff was right; that was the question.

Fortunately, Keith called in at just that moment with the answer. “ _Everyone in the control circles-Gah!_ ” That was because Voltron just got punched in the face. “ _Move in sync and you move the robot!_ ”

“Okay, sounds easy enough.” Jeff shrugged. Without another word to either Cliff or Wolo, they all moved together to raise V-15’s right hand in a fist.

“Bloody ‘ell. This is incredible.” Cliff smirked in awe.

“Well, what’re we waiting for? Let’s _use_ this giant!” Lisa’s comment reminded everyone else that V-15 was a weapon and that they might as well use him as one.

“Sounds good to me,” Jeff smirked.

“Alright. Marvin and Hutch, kick throttle; get us in there!”

“Aye-aye Sir!” With that order from Cliff, all three pilots and V-15 took up a runner’s position. Once Hutch and Marvin planted their feet squarely on the gas-pedals at their control stations, the controllers started running like they were speed-skating.

“This is the best thing ever!!!” Jeff’s happy yells made perfect sense as he was basically making a giant robot roller-skate into battle. Then the machine jumped and delivered a strong inner-shin kick at the Robeast’s face, allowing Shannon to hit his throttle and grind the treads of his vehicle on its face before it was knocked away and onto the ground with a loud crash.

“Nice entrance guys,” Keith smirked. “Heads-up.” With that, Voltron passed V-15 the Shining Ax and it projected a plasma shield from the headlights of the left hand.

“Thanks, Keith,” Jeff smirked as the white Bayard appeared in his hand and hard-light holograms resembling it appeared in Cliff and Krik’s hands as well, with holographic shields appearing on their other arms. “Let’s do this!”

Voltron raised his thruster-wings and fired them, shooting to the Robeast and clashing the Blazing Sword with its claw. “Now!” V-15 roared in and quickly slashed the ax straight through the orb, cleaving it in two and sending the Robeast’s arm to the ground.

Unfortunately, as soon as this happened, the orb started sparking and Pidge’s console went insane. “The orb is unstable! We need a containment field!”

“On it!” Shiro replied, quickly projecting an energy field from the castle’s central tower to the orb, which quickly surrounded it and held in most of the unusual radiation it was putting out.

Once he saw the readouts of this radiation, Jeff smirked. “Guys, I think I just found the energy we need for my Thaldycon Beta plan.”

“You thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?” asked Keith.

“Absolutely.” With that, V-15 passed the ax back to Voltron and then picked up the orb, taking up a pitcher’s pose.

“Alright then.” Voltron raised the ax over its shoulder and stood ready to hit the orb. “Time for the mother of all grand-slams.”

“Batta-batta-batta, swing batta.” Jeff smiled and with one strong uniform move from all three pilots, V-15 sent the orb flying which allowed Voltron the perfect opportunity to whack it away, out of the atmosphere and straight toward the Thaldycon system. Then without much more in the way of fanfare, Voltron deactivated the ax and the shield before charging with the sword. All the Paladins screamed in rage and power as they charged. The V-15 Drivers charged screaming as well, punching the Robeast straight to Voltron so that with only one more strong downward slash, it was won. But it didn’t look like for a moment, allowing both Defenders to turn away just in time for the Robeast to explode in a massive fireball.

Later on, back at the landing bay, all the Drivers and Paladins were whooping it up and congratulating each other when who should step off the transport from Altea than Admiral Sanda. Shiro smiled as he walked over to her and shook her hands. “You never could stay away from the action, could you Ellen?”

“Of course not, Takashi.” Ellen smiled. “You remember I had the best scores in self-defense and fire-training before the Alteans first got here.”

“Old! These guys are old!” This comment from Lance got a lot of laughs from the guys near the ships.

The admiral cleared her throat and walked over to Jeff and Commander Hawkins. “In light of your actions these past few days, Starfleet Command and the Coalition Council have decided to sanction both Voltron and V-15 and both their associated pilot-squadrons as an official squad of the Coalition’s United Starfleet.” She smiled along with everyone else with this news. “Congratulations, Guardian Force. Welcome to the fold.”

“Aw man, Shiro you passed that on?” Hunk asked happily.

“What can I say? It’s grown on me.” The captain had a point; it was catchy. “Now all we need are platoon names.”

“Well about that… I’ve been thinking. Back on Earth, we call a group of lions a ‘pride’, right?” Keith smirked. “So maybe us Paladins should operate under the designation ‘Voltron’s Pride’.”

“I like it.” Sanda smiled at Keith’s creativity. “What about you, Dukane?”

“Oh, Commander Hawkins already gave us our designation, ma’am.” With that, Jeff and all the other Drivers quickly stood at attention and saluted. “Assault Force V-15 reporting for duty.”

“Well alright then.” Sanda smiled before she looked at her watch. “I hate to do this to ya, but it appears our enemy doesn’t exactly give a damn about shore-leave. Back to the battlefield, folks.”

She started walking away when Jeff moved toward her. “Admiral, with all due respect, _Explorer_ is a colonization craft, not a warship.”

“That may be, but let me ask you this Lieutenant;” Sanda turned back to him with a smirk. “When you and yours were assigned to that ship, did any of you ever check the weapons console at the security station?”

“Well yeah, of course, Chip and Ginger checked it out first thing after we got on board; said they wanted to see what she could do.” Jeff shrugged.

“And what did you see?”

“Uh…” Ginger hesitated; she didn’t seem to want to let anything slip. “About six high-energy proton blasters, five torpedo tubes in each direction with a 200 quantum compliment, and about a dozen pulse cannons.”

Rocky couldn’t help but let out an impressed whistle. “That kinda firepower _and_ V-15, we could win the war ourselves.”

“I wouldn’t risk it,” Coran argued. “From all I’ve been told about Zarkon, he isn’t one to be underestimated. He may have some sort of weapon powerful enough to surpass that arsenal.”

“I appreciate your input, Minister Raible, but we’re in the middle of a war here and the Coalition needs its most powerful weapons on the front lines.” Another soldier suddenly disembarked from the ship and walked over as he said this; bald human with brown eyes, a stern look on his face and a Marine Corps uniform with four stars.

“General Wegener. I always thought you preferred the way things were on the homeworld.” Shiro shrugged as he offered the general a hand.

Which he refused. “I decided I should oversee the activation of the Coalition’s ace in the hole personally.”

“Wait a second, I just realized something;” Hunk walked up. “The mining and construction ships sent to Luxia were under _your_ general command.”

“Hey yeah. So were the ones sent to Brek.” Cliff remembered.

“Wait, that doesn’t mean what I think it means, does it?” Jeff realized.

“Wha- why? What do you think it means?” asked Shiro.

“That Starfleet Command only helped us look for the Voltonium because General Wegener wants his own version of Voltron,” Keith said accusingly. “One to fight for him.”

Ellen scowled and looked over at Wegener. “Is that true, Charles?”

“What do you expect, Sanda? These are _children_ running unsanctioned missions in Coalition space.”

“In case you’ve forgotten, General, if it hadn’t been for us ‘children’ you wouldn’t have been informed of the Galra until they had captured and _butchered_ Voltron to work for them in conquering the entire coalition.” Allura brought up.

“You’re not involved in this discussion, Cadet.”

“I beg to differ.” Romelle walked forward with her father approaching behind her. “After all, this _is_ **our** star system you’re in right now. And if my cousin wishes to speak, then you will listen to her.”

“Who gives you the authority to talk to me like that?” Wegener asked.

“I do,” Coba replied with a scowl. “Now, if I were you, I would take my niece and her associates off this _incredibly_ short leash you have them on and allow them to continue to the Coalition.”

Wegener scowled but looked at the Paladins and Drivers again. “I’ll expect regular progress reports from both of your commanding officers.”

“Fine.” With that, the general left for the ship.

“You’ll have to excuse Charles, everyone.” Ellen shrugged. “He’s a bit older than me and he was one of the highest-ranking men in the Marine Corps before first contact, so he’s not very trusting in anything alien.”

“Well, that explains why he’s never graced the wild black yonder with his presence before.” Lance shrugged.

“I don’t think I entirely trust him.” Keith scowled after the admiral. “Pidge, do you think you can look into him for me?”

Pidge smiled. “That’s not… strictly legal.” Keith raised an eyebrow. “Investigating a commanding officer, I mean.”

“When has that ever stopped you?” Sanda smiled at the Green Paladin. “Sam told me you looked into Shiro when you found out he would be your homeroom teacher at the Garrison. Do whatever you like, Katie.”

Pidge smirked. “Yes, ma’am.”

Keith looked back at King Coba and bowed in respect. “Thank you again for your hospitality, Your Majesty. But as Admiral Sanda said, duty calls.”

“Of course, Paladin Keith. May the Ancients guide your path and as you humans say in matters such as these; Godspeed.” He smiled and wrapped a hug around his daughter. “I hope to see you again soon, Romelle.”

“And I you, Father.” Romelle smiled, hugging him back.

Sven smiled and extended a hand to the princess. “On our way, Princess.”

Romelle smiled and took his hand with a cordial smile. “After you, my white knight.”

Lance smirked at the castle’s resident Viking as they both passed him. “She is totally flirting with you,” he whispered with a sing-song tone.

“Hey, how about you just worry about stealing Allura from Keith and leave Romelle with me, okay dude?” Sven smirked back as they both walked aboard.

“ _Oooh_. Somebody get Professor Page out here with some gear ‘cause it looks like McClain’s got some third-degree _smack-talk burns!_ ” That one comment from Cliff was enough to make almost every other low-ranking guy there (and also Pidge and some of the other girls) yell “Ohhhh!” like the main characters on _Regular Show_.

Shiro and Rick laughed as it finally subsided. “Alright you crazy party animals, calm down.” Shiro smiled as he patted Keith on the shoulder. “Let’s get back to the grindstone.”

“Yes, sir.” Keith nodded as Shiro boarded. “Well, you heard the captain. Dog the distractions and take your positions, Paladins.”

“Yes, sir.” Hunk saluted as they all boarded, as the Drivers moved to board the _Explorer_.

“Oi, Lance!” Cliff called, drawing the red Paladin’s attention. “Consider us even for what happened at the pool.” With that, the door to the ship sealed and its engines warmed up.

Lance scowled at the _Explorer_ as if trying to set Cliff on fire with his mind. “Lance cmon! ♪ Let’s go alreadyyy! ♪”

Lance chuckled as he remembered that reference. “ _Futurama_ , Hunk? Seriously?”

“What? It’s a good show.”

“Eh. It has its moments.” Keith shrugged. Naturally, this started another argument which lasted the whole time the ships were leaving the system.

But what no one could’ve foreseen was that once they were gone, General Wegener had gone down to one of the transport’s cargo holds and met with an unknown stowaway. “The pilots are on to me. I’m gonna need some serious help if you still want their rides.”

“You will receive any and all assistance necessary. And I can assure you that your loyalty will be greatly rewarded.”

“You’ll honor our agreement?”

“Naturally.”

“Good. I look forward to speaking with you again… Captain.”


	31. Research

“You guys sure you’re cool with me doing this?” Pidge was pouring through every available Coalition file on General Wegener she could with every hack-program she had, but she was still worried about getting caught. “I mean we all realize I’m basically hacking the main Garrison computer network, right? That’s like… _twelve_ court-martials and _seventy_ life-sentences for all of us if I get caught.”

“You won’t. After all, your mother did this once when we were kids and she was made chief of Coalition intelligence.” Pidge was surprised at that story from her father.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Chill; just did.” Shiro chuckled at his old friend; he always was the type to pull something like this.

“Well okay; cool though that may be, how does that help Pidge?” asked Lance.

“Let’s just say she takes more after her mother than me.”

“Ah. I gotcha.” Lance smirked; he got the picture now.

“Well, if we’re serious about me doing this, I’m probably gonna need your dad’s help Allura. I’m fairly positive he wrote some of these programs.” Pidge probably half-expected King Alfor’s hologram to materialize out of nowhere and help her with the hack, but nothing of the sort happened. “Uh… King Alfor?”

“Alfor? Hellooo?” Sam called, but there was still no response.

“Father? Mother? Where are you?” Allura was rationally getting worried now.

As was Coran. “Maybe there’s something wrong with the main AI computer. Hunk, if you wouldn’t mind?”

“You got it, chief.” Hunk pulled himself up and went after him for a few steps.

“Hold it. I wouldn’t go alone if I were you, guys.” Sven said rationally. “We don’t want a repeat of the Balmera Run, do we?”

“Relax Sven, it’s probably just the mice being a little playful.” Lance shrugged; he was finally getting to like those little guys, and he figured that this might not be too far-off.

“Isn’t that what you thought when you heard the bomb on the crystal?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Alright then. Sven, go along with them and help keep an eye on things.” No problems obeying that order as the three left for the AI chamber.

“Alright well, while they’re doing that, I think I’m gonna go see if I can strengthen my link with the Black Lion.” Keith shrugged as he picked up his under-armor jumpsuit. “Maybe if I get it strong enough, I can break Zarkon’s link and he won’t be able to track us down anymore.”

“Alright good, you do that. Pidge, see what you can figure out about Wegener yourself.”

“Way ahead of you.” And indeed, she was hacking faster than she’d ever hacked before.

In the AI room, the three opened the door only to find that the entire place had been ransacked; computers were sparking, loose wires hanging everywhere, and the main imaging matrix was completely disabled. “Looks like we’ve got more to worry about here than the mice.” Hunk rationalized.

“Well, what are we waiting for? We have to get the systems back online.” Coran quickly took charge as he moved to the imaging matrix. “Hunk, get those computers back online. Sven, check all the other subsystems; I want to be sure this is our _only_ breach.”

“On it.” Sven quickly ran down the corridor to the subsystem control station and checked everything.

It took some doing, but with one final wire replaced… “Alright, I got it. All systems are back online.”

“Excellent.” Coran was standing on his tippy-toes on the console with a tiny screwdriver adjusting something in the imaging matrix. “Just one more little tweak, and…” One more half-turn and both royal holograms quickly reappeared.

“-you doing?!” It appeared as though Alfor had been cut off mid-sentence once he reactivated, and it severely confused the two.

“You alright, your majesty?” asked Hunk.

“Eh? What? O-Oh Hunk, Coran. Yes, we’re fine now; thank you.” the king nodded. “Though I’m still not entirely sure what just happened.”

“Neither am I.” Melenor agreed. “Uh Hunk, did you check our AI-chips’ memory-core circuits?”

“Not yet, hang on.” Hunk quickly moved to do so and yanked something out of both the circuit pathways. “Huh. That’s weird. Some sort of memory-buffers.”

“Well, they did their job. I think I can remember who destroyed this place. That’s the good news.” Alfor announced.

“Dare I ask what the bad news is?” Coran asked rationally.

“He was wearing a head-mask, so we don’t even know what species they were, let alone their name.” Alfor shrugged.

“Yeah, thought so.” Hunk sighed. “Well anyway, we think General Wegener isn’t exactly on the up-and-up, so Pidge is kinda sorta hacking into the Garrison network to try and find some sort of proof. Think you might be able to help him out?”

“I should be able to. I _wrote_ half of the security subsystems myself.” Alfor smirked.

“Well, what’re we waiting for? Let’s go.” With that, all four moved back to the bridge, meeting up with Sven along the way. “Hey man, how are the other subsystems?”

“Shot to shit. At least the security system is; I can’t even access the main sensors in the brig.”

“Great, so for all we know, Yurak is loose in the castle ready to kill us all and take Voltron.” Coran groaned and pulled angrily at his mustache.

“We’ll figure that out once we’re on the bridge.” Hunk was right; as they arrived on the bridge, they found Pidge still busily hacking away at the Garrison firewalls. Keith was still there as well, still working on locking his armor on. “How’s it coming, Pidge?”

“Well enough, I guess.” she shrugged. “Major props though, Alfor; this is some solid encryption.”

“Why thank you. Have you made any headway?”

“I think so. I’ve managed to access the Garrison’s communications traffic. Locating transmission history from General Wegener’s office, and…” She seemed confused when she accessed it. “That’s weird.”

“What is?” Keith glanced over Pidge’s shoulder in intrigue.

“It looks like General Wegener has sent a ton of encrypted messages into deep space over the last few days.”

“Any idea who the intended recipient might be?” asked Lance.

“Not as of yet; the logs are _triple_ -encrypted. But it looks like the transmissions started going out on…” This was extremely surprising and equally disconcerting. “July 15th.”

Allura was just as surprised by this news. “The day before we reactivated Voltron. But why?”

“I don’t know. Lemme see if I can break this encryption.” Pidge resumed hacking, but it looked like she would be stuck for a while.

“In the meantime, I’d better see if I can get the security system back online.” Sven moved to a console and quickly started punching in some standard-issue reboot codes for the security system, but nothing worked. He growled in anger and stood up. “Screw it. I’ll check the brig myself.” With that, he simply left the bridge.

“Alright well, I’m done.” Keith shrugged as he picked up his helmet. “Anyone needs me, I’ll be in the hangar with my Lion.”

“Alright man, good luck.” Lance high-fived his partner as he left for the hangar. Once he was gone, Pidge put on her headphones with techno playing over them and put up a large holographic field, on which she started work on breaking Wegener’s encryption with Alfor at her side.

“Woof. Man, are we sure this guy’s a Marine?” Pidge was rationally amazed. “This is like some next-level Intelligence branch encryption.”

“Think you can get through it?” asked Shiro.

“Sure, if I had about five months and the guy who wrote it--- oh goddammit Mom.”

“What? Colleen wrote it?” Alfor was surprised.

Sam came around to check and his face fell as he recognized it. “Yep. Should’ve known. She’s the best intel chief the fleet has to offer.” He smirked after that and cracked his knuckles. “Fortunately for us, there’s always a fatal flaw in her coding she never catches.”

“What flaw?”

Sam got onto the panel and started hacking away himself. “She always leaves at least one subspace field-pocket less encrypted than all the others.” And indeed, he found a weak link in the chain within just a few seconds. “Bingo.” Once he found it, he hacked away at its own personal firewall until it and the entire rest of the encryption caved, allowing access.

Unfortunately, as soon as the data appeared, Pidge’s face twisted in confusion. “That’s weird. No official recipient is listed; just a set of galactic coordinates.”

“Any idea what’s there?” asked Hunk.

Pidge quickly ran a search. “Can’t tell. Just looks like some sort of planetoid cluster in… the Demaria system; nothing useful.”

“Did you check the electron emission spectrum of the planetoids?” asked Hunk.

Pidge snapped her fingers and smiled at the Yellow warrior. “No, I did not. Gimme a sec.” With that, she began searching and was intrigued. “That’s weird. Some sort of fluctuation, probably caused by the gravitational fields of the planetoids. Must be hiding something.”

“Best guess? We just found some sort of top-secret star-base or communications relay.” Shiro smirked. “Set a course; let’s check it out.”

“Belay that!” Sven yelled as he ran up to the bridge.

“Whoa! Sven, what’s the matter?” Lance was right to ask; the guy looked like he had just run up to the bridge from the brig (which was 25 decks).

“It’s… Yurak… He’s… Ah!” He quickly put a hand to his side and groaned. “Dammit. Got a stitch. Hang on, just-just gimme a sec.” He fell over onto his back on the floor and panted in agony.

“You uh… you good man?” Hunk asked, holding his head over Sven’s.

Unfortunately, this lit a fire in the Viking’s eye. “I’m fine, but our situation isn’t! Yurak isn’t in his stasis cell; he’s gone!”

“What?! Where’d he go?” asked Lance.

“Well, he certainly left before we left Pollux; none of the pods are missing,” Alfor reported, looking at a feed of the hangar.

“Well then, how’d he get out?” asked Lance.

“We’ll have to worry about that later; if he escaped, then he’s probably already commandeered a ship and is heading back for imperial space.” Shiro reasoned. “Which would mean he’s probably trying to reach this port.”

“So if we search the port, we’ll probably find Yurak and how he managed to jump ship.” Hunk smiled. “I like this train of thought.”

“Plotting a course now,” Melenor reported.

“Keith, report to the bridge.” Naturally, Shiro was expecting the young Black Paladin to open the door right then and there, but no one even heard any footsteps outside. “Keith? Keith, respond. Keith!”


	32. Linking

Moments earlier, Keith had just arrived at his hangar and was staring up at his Lion with a strong smirk. “We have some work to do, big guy.” He locked on his helmet and once he clambered aboard into the cockpit, he gripped the controls and let out a relaxed breath. “Okay buddy, work with me here. What do I have to do with you to strengthen our link?”

It seemed the Lion answered as it suddenly activated and aimed to launch from the castle. “Whoa! What the-? Hey, what’re you doing?!” The Lion didn’t answer as it simply fired the wing-thrusters and shot out of the castle. “Whoa! Cmon big guy, stop. Stop! Dammit, I said stop!” He tried the controls as best he could, but the Lion still wouldn’t cooperate. “Turn around and get back to the Castle, that is an order!” Clearly, the Lion didn’t care as it shot full-tilt further away from the Castle. “Dammit, cmon! Agh alright look, I have no idea where you’re going but I am ordering you to stop right goddamn now!”

Finally, it appeared as though the Lion listened as it cut the thrusters and started drifting. “That’s better. Now… where the hell are we?” He got his answer as he looked at the viewer and saw a large red planet with purple clouds all over the surface. “Wait, don’t tell me this is-? Why are we here? What are you trying to tell me?” The Lion growled in Keith’s mind in an answer to his question. “So you want me to look through _your_ eyes. Okay.” He closed his eyes in compliance and once he focused enough, he was surprised to see a fleet of ships from all sorts of different races around the planet, which Keith was correct in his assumption about as the next image showed Voltron looking at Alfor and Zarkon on the surface, surrounded by large Galra structures. “I knew it. We’re at Korrinoth. Show me more.”

He closed his eyes again and this time, he saw the events that Alfor and Melenor showed him and the other Paladins in their memories, from the first Voltonium asteroid making impact to Voltron’s rise to glory across the universe. Suddenly Zarkon’s image in the memories looked straight in the direction Keith was watching from before his eyes flashed bright purple. Keith quickly opened his eyes in fear and surprise, confused as to what had just happened.

On the command ship, Haggar and some of her druids were pumping magic into Zarkon who was wearing a strange armor-like apparatus on his shoulders. “You.” The dark emperor smirked as he said this, knowing he had done what he had clearly set out to do for a long while.

Keith managed to calm down and close his eyes again. “Show me more.” The Lion did so and promptly showed Keith an image of Voltron fighting a massive fleet of pirate-ships, but something was different about it. “Those wings…” And indeed; Voltron’s booster wings had somehow spread massive blade-like feathers. “You have powers we haven’t unlocked yet.” Suddenly Voltron flew straight through the fleet and all the ships exploded out of nowhere. “Whoa! That’s awesome!”

Suddenly, Voltron turned to Keith’s direction and his POV zoomed into the head, where he saw Zarkon standing in triumph. “I have you now, Paladin.” Then out of nowhere, Voltron sent a massive plasma beam out of his mouth at Keith, somehow knocking him into a strange purple void.

It was a hard landing, to say the least as he had crashed onto his side before he pulled himself up and looked around. “A child?” Keith looked and was shocked to see what looked the ghost of Zarkon and a massive ghost-form that resembled the Black Lion looking on. “Voltron chose a _child_ to replace me? I am insulted. Either way, you are a fool to face me here. _When_ you die in Link-Space, you die in the real world as well. And then _I_ will take command of Voltron.”

“We’ll see about-” Naturally, Keith didn’t get the chance to finish that thought as he suddenly got bashed in the stomach with a mace and sent him flying across this strange arena, before Zarkon appeared behind him again and delivered a strong kick straight into the spine, causing him to cough up blood and fly away again, landing on his hands and knees.

“Ugh. Shit. I think I can see why you’re called Zarkon the Mighty.”

Zarkon seemed to find humor in this as he gave a small chuckle. “I have not used that title in 120 years. Once the war began, I have been called Zarkon the Conqueror. And with Voltron at my side, all shall know this title again.”

“We’ll see.” With one fluid movement, Keith activated his sword and charged, clashing weapons with the tyrant with an angry growl in his voice with every slash, punch and kick he delivered. But it was clear to see that he was losing ground fast against the emperor.

Finally, they were both disarmed and Keith resorted to the ironic Lion-style Kung-Fu training he received when he was a kid, but it still wasn’t enough to take Zarkon head-on. “A weakling like you could never take my place.” he said as he suddenly caught Keith’s left jab in one hand “You don’t deserve to even look upon the armor of the Black Paladin, much-less wear it.” Then with one tensed muscle, Keith could feel his hand’s bones breaking and he screamed. One strong kick and Keith was sent tumbling away, groaning on the ground as he held his hand in pain.

“Neither do you.” he groaned, trying to sound tough. “You can’t pilot the Black Lion after everything you’ve done to the people of the universe. Voltron will never follow you again! You’re no Paladin! You’re just a criminal.”

Zarkon just growled and charged, attacking Keith again and knocking him further away… right to his sword, which he quickly grabbed and charged with, basically jousting the emperor who charged him as well. “You haven’t the slightest idea how to command a weapon like this!”

Keith clashed his blade against Zarkon’s bracer and they both growled at each other. “No one commands Voltron!” Suddenly strange purple energy formed along his Bayard’s blade and he started slashing, but Zarkon moved too fast for him to hit.

“You dare lecture me, child?!” Zarkon roared in anger as he bashed Keith into the ground. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, Zarkon was right about at least one thing; all the pain Keith felt in the Link-Space was also experienced in the real world. Including Zarkon picking Keith up and holding him against his chest-plate.

The emperor took up the black Bayard which suddenly transformed into a large vicious-looking saber, the blade of which he aimed at the boy’s neck. Keith quickly grabbed the blade and tried his best to hold it back, but all he managed to achieve was cut his palms on the blade. “I have been conquering the universe since long before you were born! I have seen more worlds in one month than you have seen in your entire lifetime! Do you honestly think the Black Lion would allow such a feeble, fragile creature to pilot it? Only the powerful can command such a machine!”

Keith growled in rage as he felt the blade slicing deeper into his hands… and breaking the skin on his neck. “You’re wrong! Voltron is not just a machine! He is a warrior! Besides, you’ve forgotten what’s most important between Voltron and the Paladins, haven’t you? It isn’t just about power; it’s about earning each other’s trust! Which I have done ten-fold!”

Zarkon smirked. “Trust has nothing to do with it. The Lion is mine, forever!” He tightened his grip and pulled back further on the blade, which made Keith scream in even more agony. Suddenly the Black Lion activated and flew to Keith’s aid, swatting Zarkon away with a single swipe of its paw, leaving massive slashes across his chest.

The emperor looked up in anger as Keith picked his Bayard up and faced the emperor. “Seems you were wrong, Zarkon. You have lost your title and honor… to me!” With that, he threw his helmet off to reveal that somehow, his eyes were glowing bright purple, along with those of the Black Lion. “I am Junior-Grade Lieutenant Keith Akira Kogane of the Coalition United Starfleet, Paladin of the Black Lion of Voltron; Defender of the Universe! And I swear upon my father’s grave, that I will see you dethroned!”

Zarkon’s eyes popped at this and he gave a cruel chuckle. “So _you’re_ the Kogane boy.”

Keith was confused. “What? What are you talking about?”

“Yurak spoke well of his mission on Altea ten years ago… and about the sad child who watched that shuttle explode.” At that, Keith’s eyes stopped glowing and his mouth gapped; he knew exactly what Zarkon was talking about. It was the day his father died in the shuttle accident. All those years since it had happened, Keith had mistrusted the _Alteans_ for sabotaging the craft and killing his father, but it was the _Galra_ all along. This realization filled him with so many emotions that he wasn’t sure which to display first, so he just let out a loud angry roar as his eyes flared massive purple and he charged, propelled somehow by the Black Lion’s plasma roar, causing Zarkon’s spirit to disintegrate.

“NO!” Quickly, he was pulled from Link-Space before he could be killed but he still panted from the adrenaline of the near-death experience.

“Sire, what is it?” Haggar quickly moved to his side in concern.

“My- my connection to the Black Lion grows weaker by the day. I was nearly beaten by my whelp of a replacement!” Zarkon quickly rose and tossed off his chestplate as he walked away. “We must hurry if we ever wish to reclaim Voltron!”

Keith emerged from Link-Space too, suddenly surprised at the intense pain he felt all over his body. “Mirror.” At that simple command, a holo-feed appeared in front of him to show what he looked like, and the answer was worse for wear; his chin and chestplate were drenched in blood, his face was bruised, it felt like a few of his ribs had been broken, and he had streaks coming from his eyes of angry tears. He looked down at his hands and was shocked to see that even his gloves and hands were cut, and his left was broken in several places. “Whoa.” Then he looked up at the ceiling of his cockpit. “Did- Did you just save me again?” He smirked at the affirmative growl his Lion gave him and patted the console. “Thanks, boy.” Then his eyes narrowed. “But I am going to have words with Yurak next time I see him. Now let’s get back to the Castle.” Then to his amazement, the image of Korrinoth out in front of his Lion disappeared, revealing it to simply be an image on the viewer, as the Lion was still in its hangar. “We never left?”

“ _Keith?_ ” He knew that voice in his helmet anywhere; Shiro. “ _Keith, respond. Keith!_ ”

Quickly, he put it on and turned on the transmitter. “Yeah! Yeah, I’m here.”

“ _What’d ya do man, take a nap?_ ” Oy. Yeah, that was definitely Lance.

“Not exactly.” Keith shrugged; he wasn’t exactly sure _how_ to describe what just happened to him. “I’ll be up in a minute. Do we have a plan?”

“ _Yeah, we think we’ve found some sort of harbor or something. We’re heading there now._ ”

Keith quickly pulled himself up, groaning in pain from all his injuries but still mobile. “Cancel that. I’m pretty sure I’ve managed to break Zarkon’s tracking.”

“ _Wait, seriously? Does that mean you buffed up your Lion-Link?_ ” Man, Hunk and these nicknames for everything.

“Yeah, and I have our new mission. Set course for the coordinates Ulaz and Aaimin gave us. We’re heading for the Order of the Blade’s HQ.”

“ _Understood,_ ” Alfor replied. “ _Also, you sound a bit worse-for-wear. Should I send Romelle down to bring you up?_ ”

“No-no, I can make it.” Keith groaned, collapsing into the turbolift just as he said that. “Main Bridge.” At that command, the elevator sealed and shot up to the main bridge whereupon Keith promptly blacked out.

Well… at least his day was productive?


	33. Family Reunion (pt. 1)

Pain. Intense, full-body pain. It wasn’t exactly what Keith was expecting to wake up to, but it was what he was greeted with as he rolled back into the conscious world… along with a strange tingling on his left palm. He groaned, opening his eyes to see Romelle was tending to his wounds… and that he was topless. He looked and was surprised to see Lance working on washing the blood off his chestplate and bodysuit tunic.

“Oh, Keith. You’re awake. Thank heavens.” Turned out Romelle was running a dermal regenerator over his hand, healing the cut Zarkon left on his hand.

“What happened to you anyway? One minute you’re working on your link, the next you’re out cold in the turbolift and looking like you just got your ass kicked to Titan and back.” Lance tossed the commander his now-cleaned and repaired armor with a questioning look on his face.

“It’s a long story. How long was I out?”

“A few hours. Your brain’s still fine though; I checked.” Romelle reassured.

Keith didn’t seem to care too much about that. “How much farther?”

“Based on Ulaz’s coordinates, we should be there within a few minutes,” Sam replied, double checking the systems.

“I can’t wait to see it!” Pidge was naturally happy about this whole thing. “I mean, they were able to fold space-time and that was just at a listening post!”

Hunk smiled as he patted his stomach. “Mm. The space-taco. It left us too soon.”

“Well yeah sure, but my point is; just imagine how awesome their HQ might be!”

“No exactly, I’m with you; it could take any shape it wants. Like a- like a space jelly donut. Or a space éclair. Or a space cheese-blintz with a cherry sauce on top. Maybe a little dusting of powdered sugar; that’s the stars.”

“Hunk, we’ve talked about this; don’t make us hungry before a mission.” Lance rolled his eyes.

“Focus people,” Shiro ordered. “This is a serious mission.”

“The base is in range.” Everyone turned intrigued at Coran’s report and were stunned by what they saw.

“Take us in easy.” Shiro’s order was followed as the ship began slowing down.

“That… could be problematic.” That’s putting it mildly Sam. Especially given what was in front of the ship at this second.

“Whoa. Is- Is that a black hole?” Hunk was amazed; he’d never been this close to a black hole before in his life.

“No, no-no-no-no.” Coran smiled. “Good news; it’s _two_ black holes… and a blue supergiant star.” And indeed, it _was_ a massive blue supergiant caught in-between two separate black holes, each siphoning matter from the star.

“You seriously need to work on your definition of good news, Coran,” Sven said candidly.

“Agreed. Just inside the event horizon of a black hole, the temp is one-millionth of a degree above Absolute Zero.” Sam remembered from his cosmology lessons. “But just outside that, it’s tens of millions of degrees _Kelvin_.”

Hunk smiled. “Oh okay, it’s like when you try to nuke a frozen burrito in the microwave and it comes out all scorching hot on the outside but it’s still frozen on the inside, right?”

“Hunk!” Lance yelled.

“Uh, in essence, yes; I suppose that would be a good analogy.” Sam shrugged.

“Guys, focus!” Keith was really coming into his leadership role as the Black Paladin, albeit aggressively. “Coran, where’s the base?”

“Right here, in-between those three incredibly deadly celestial objects.” Once the feed came up, it showed that an asteroid with a strange compound built into the surface was orbiting just above a sunspot on the star that the black holes hadn’t touched yet.

“Perfect defensive position,” Pidge noted.

“Or a perfect trap.” Sven brought up.

“Yeah I’m with him; maybe we should weigh our options here?” Hunk suggested.

“Are you kidding me right now, guys?” asked Keith. “Ulaz and Aaimin told me where I could find my mother, _and_ we need allies on the inside. This is the entire reason we came out here in the first place! There is no other option!”

“Okay, okay. Sheesh, Tranquilo amigo.” Lance waved his hands at his commander to try and get him to calm down.

One deep breath later and Keith stood up, now feeling much more stable, and began redonning his armor. “Sorry guys. I- I guess I’m just really impatient to see if the Grandmaster knows anything more about my mom than Aaimin could find.”

“Well, you’re about to get your chance.” Sam shrugged. “They just sent us a message; ‘Identify yourselves’.”

“Why wouldn’t they know who we are?” asked Hunk. “Ulaz told them what the Castle looks like, right?”

“Well, I guess there’s only one way to find out.” Shiro shrugged and turned to Sam. “Commander?”

“Hailing frequency open, Shiro,” he reported.

“Go ahead, Keith.” The paladin smiled at his commanding officer and walked forward.

“This is Keith Kogane of the Galactic Coalition and the Paladins of Voltron. We were sent here by your man Ulaz to meet with Grandmaster Marmora.” He turned away and moved back to his seat to grab his helmet. “Send that in all language forms, just to be safe.”

“All language forms, Lieutenant.” Once he sent it, Sam was surprised. “How’s that for service? We’re already getting a reply. Says ‘Only the Central Paladins may enter. Come unarmed’.”

“Why insist we come unarmed? Keith, this doesn’t feel right.” Allura reasoned.

“We made it this far, didn’t we?” he shrugged. “Sam, calculate a flight path.”

“No need; they just sent one,” Sam reported, putting up a display of a path around the star to the outpost. “But you’ll have to move fast; this star seems to have an unusual solar flare frequency, so the path will only be open for another hour. After that, it’ll be sealed for another 48.”

“Then you’re right; we’ll have to move quick.” Lance stood and quickly locked on his helmet, dropping his Bayard on his chair. “Let’s meet in Red’s hangar.”

“Why Red?” asked Hunk.

“Well no offense big guy, but Yellow isn’t exactly the most maneuverable out of all the Lions.” Lance shrugged.

“Plus, I think I got pulled out before I could _completely_ break Zarkon’s link with the Black Lion.” Keith agreed. “And Red can handle the heat from that star better than any of the others.”

“Well even with Red’s speed, this route will be treacherous, to say the least.” Sam reasoned, bringing up a few wrong turns that could end the mission instantly. “You’ll be riding a razor’s edge between the gravitational pulls of the black holes and the star. One false move and you’ll either be pulled into slipspace or incinerated.”

“Great. No pressure.” Sven shrugged. “Let’s move.”

“Ah-ah-ah. Sorry Sven, but you can’t come,” said Keith. “The Blades only asked for the Central Paladins, which are most likely us five. Sorry man, but you’ll have to stay here.”

Sven shrugged. “Fine by me. Just don’t get killed or captured or whatever.”

“Don’t plan to.” Lance launched the Red Lion shortly after that, following the route in the viewer.

Unfortunately, the solitude gave the others a chance to talk to Keith. “So uh… hey you good man?”

Keith was confused by Hunk’s question. “Yeah, I’m- I’m fine, why?”

“Well, ya _kinda_ went thermonuclear back there.” Pidge shrugged. “You’re gonna need better control if you want us to follow you.”

Keith gave a dry chuckle. “Why would you _not?_ Lance cmon, we’ve been best friends since we met at the Garrison. You said you'd follow me through hell and back, remember?”

“Well yeah I know, but- look man, no disrespect but I’m with Pidge; you gotta get a handle on things.” Lance shrugged, looking away from the screen for _literally_ one second.

Keith sighed and removed his helmet to ruffle his hair. “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry, I’ve just- I’ve just had a lot on my mind lately.”

“We all have.” Allura nodded. Suddenly the ship started veering, knocking everyone around in the cockpit. “Lance, what’s happening?”

“One of the black holes is drawing us in!”

“Kick full throttle; get us out of here!” Keith’s order was quickly followed as Red shot straight back onto the flight-path and straight toward the asteroid… just as a few large solar flares were about to collide.

“We’re not gonna make it!” Hunk yelled in fear.

“Relax guys, we’re _totally_ gonna make it. Time to earn back that nickname.” Lance’s smirk instantly made everyone’s faces turn as white as Sven’s armor.

“No-no-no, bad idea dude! You remember what happened in the simulators!” Pidge yelled.

“Lucky for us, Red and the simulators have one key difference; no wings for me to clip off,” Lance smirked.

“How is that supposed to help?!” Keith yelled.

“Another thing the sim doesn’t have? These!” With a strong move, Red’s mega-thrusters quickly fired and shot it toward the gap between the flares as all the others screamed in terror. “Cmon boy! THREAD THE NEEDLE!” Just as the flares collided, the Lion made it through with the tip of the tail just on the edge. “WHOO! Ho-ho yeah! The Tailor does it again!”

Keith let out a relieved breath. “That was _way_ too close.” Then he smirked at his first officer. “But you, my man, have officially earned back your nickname.”

Lance smirked and bumped fists with his commander. “Thanks, amigo.” Then he moved back to the controls just as the Lion drifted to the asteroid. “Alright, settin’ her down. Let’s do this.” With that, he unlatched his harness and everyone disembarked from the Lion, moving to meet two Blades near an elevator panel in the surface.

“We have been ordered to escort you to the Grandmaster.” the larger one said.

Keith could see Allura scowl at the Blades, clearly still not totally trusting them but he simply said, “Carry on.” Once everyone was on the elevator, it started to drop and the chamber quickly pressurized. Once at the bottom of the shaft, the Paladins were met with a large chamber with Blades on either side and one at the other end of the room who appeared to be female.

The Paladins slowly approached, not wanting to aggravate any of the guards as they approached. Keith glanced in every direction possible and finally managed to see one female-seeming Blade who for some reason didn’t have a sword in her back-sheath like the rest. He had a theory about why but decided to put it off until later as he and the others stopped in front of the stone-faced leader. “I am Marmora, Grandmaster of the Order of the Blades.”

“And I am Keith. This is Lance, Allura, Pidge, and Hunk. We are the Paladins.”

Marmora’s expression did not change. “I know who you are.”

“Then you know we were sent by one of your own.”

Marmora gave a dry chuckle. “Ulaz was a fool to give you these coordinates. He had a penchant for ignoring orders and following his impulses. And look what it got him.”

“Those impulses of his? They saved us.” Keith growled. “What he did that day brought us here, and Voltron _and_ the Coalition are ready to help you bring down Zarkon. Now, are we welcome here or not?”

Marmora raised an eyebrow, which flipped out a reticule letting her see something. “You were told to come unarmed.”

Lance gave a dry chuckle as he pulled off his helmet. “You also told us to identify ourselves. The Lions and this armor are about as close as we can come to an ID.”

Keith quickly decided to step in before things got hairy. “If anything goes wrong here, believe me, you’ll be _glad_ the Red Lion is on your side and not in your path.”

Marmora lowered her eyebrow and reticule, glaring at the Paladins. “I’m sure we will. However, I wasn’t referring to your ship.” She snapped her fingers and before anyone had a chance to think, the larger of the Blades who brought them in quickly pinned Keith to the ground.

“Hey, watch it!” Lance was about to get involved when the other escort raised his blade to Lance’s neck.

The larger one quickly pulled Keith’s knife off his belt and removed the bandages, growling in anger behind his mask. “He has one of our blades! Who did you steal this from?!”

“Ugh! I didn’t! I’ve had it since I was a kid!”

“Lies!” One strong smack was all it took to knock Keith’s helmet off and send it tumbling away.

Which caught the attention of the guard without the blade, who quickly moved forward. “Antok, wait. Stand down.”

“Krolia, you remember our ways,” Marmora growled, giving Keith the information and chance he needed.

“Give her a chance; she’s my mother! She’s the one who gave it to me!”

“Wait, what?!” Lance’s question naturally echoed those of all the other Paladins and also some of the Blades.

After hearing this, Antok quickly released Keith and let him stand up to face Krolia who lowered her hood and deactivated her helmet to reveal a kind smiling face with lavender skin and violet eyes with yellow sclera, dark purple hair and two strange marks on her chin, pointing up to her eyes. “Hello, son.”

Keith could hardly think of anything to say so he simply grabbed Krolia in a hug and started quietly sobbing. The other guard lowered his blade and deactivated his helmet to show a bright lavender and white face with bright yellow eyes, which simply smiled.

“I humbly suggest we agree to this, Grandmaster,” he suggested. “After all, what sort of beings would we be to separate a family apart for years?”

“I appreciate your position Kolivan, but our rules must be maintained.” Marmora walked down to Keith and took the blade from Antok, giving it to the paladin. “You claim Krolia gave you this blade? Prove it.”

Keith took the handle of the blade and pulled it back. “I will…” Then he turned back to his mother. “As soon as you tell me why you left me and Dad.”

Krolia sighed and walked to a mirror, looking out at the stars. “It certainly wasn’t by choice. Though to be quite honest, neither was my arrival. But I suppose that since you’ve come all this way, you deserve to know.” She stared out into space, easily picking out which of the stars out beyond the outpost was Sol. “I left to protect the one I loved most…” She turned back to Keith with a small smile on her face and a single tear in her left eye. “You.”

“You… left to protect me? I don’t understand.”

Lance smiled and placed a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Well, the route back to the castle isn’t clear for two days.” he reasoned. “Take all the time you need.” Keith smiled at his number two and quickly moved to hug him. “Oh. Okay. Alright, now we’re man-huggin’.”

“Thanks for understanding, dude.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it, bro. It’s just like mi Abuelo Antonio always says; ‘La familia gana cada vez’.”

Keith stopped and pulled out of the hug in confusion. “Translation?”

Lance smirked; he and Keith had been friends for two years and he _still_ didn’t understand a word of Spanish. Classic. “It means ‘Family always wins’.”

Keith smirked at this and patted Lance on the shoulder. “Smart guy.”

“I think you’d like him. Now go on; be with your mama. I gotta go report in with the Castle.” With that, he left for another corridor and turned on his com-unit.

Once he was gone, Keith looked at the others. Hunk and Pidge smiled at him in understanding and happiness, but Allura… well, it was hard to read what her expression said. It was sort of a mix of happiness and loathing for the fact that Keith was half-Galra… the latter part of which he completely understood and would address later. Right now, he had to address something else; his mother.


	34. Family Reunion (pt. 2)

Ask Keith Kogane today and he’d be more than happy to tell you that his life had been madness from Day 1. But now he had a chance to finally find out why this was so.

That is, if his mother would give him even _half_ the time of day. One hug and a few kind words in the main hall, and she sent him ahead to a chamber in what appeared to be the barracks of the Order’s headquarters almost an hour ago. He was spinning his mother’s blade on his hand when he heard a door-tone. He stopped the blade and gave a sidelong glare to the door. “Come in.”

Once it opened, he softened his gaze (just a bit) to see his mother come in… holding a tray of Earthling food. “I’m sorry to keep you waiting; I haven’t had time to program Earth culinary-structures into our replicators, so I had to use the one in the Red Lion.”

Keith shrugged, still glaring a bit. “I’ve been waiting sixteen years to meet you; what difference does an hour make?”

Krolia sighed as she set the tray down on the small table in front of her son and sat down next to him on the sofa. “You’re angry about that, I can tell.”

Keith chuckled dryly. “Well yeah, kinda. I barely even remember you from when I was a kid. Dad did what he could to tell me you were… heh… just some space-boomer from a decommissioned freighter based outta Vegas, but I always had a hunch he was lying.”

Krolia chuckled. “Yes, Trevor never was very good at coming up with those sorts of stories.” She let her face fall as she looked back at her son. “I was sorry to hear about what happened to him.”

“Yeah well, you weren’t there.” Keith leaned back, lying against the back of the couch. “You didn’t see him go up in smoke. I did. There was barely anything left for me to bury.”

Krolia sighed, staring at her son with forlorn eyes. “You’ve managed to find me. I suppose it’s time I tell you the story.”

“Of what?”

“How I came to be on your planet… twenty-one years ago.” With that, she pulled out a playback cube which started projecting video.

**Earth Date: March 14 th, 2036**

**Time: 2152 Hours**

**Location: Upper Earth atmosphere above American Southwest**

**POV: Galra Micro-Cam Drone**

It was just a few years after the Galactic Coalition was truly founded when humanity was just beginning to welcome those from other planets to the Sol System. Haggar had recently called the greatest soldiers in the empire to the Central Command ship to run surveillance of this newborn galactic nation. Krolia was sent along with the two-fighter surveillance squadron, which had hidden just out of range of the surveillance system on Earth’s moon, officially named Luna.

“ _It’s impossible._ ” one pilot said over the coms. “ _The Alteans wouldn’t really bother with such a primitive species, would they?_ ”

“That’s why we’re out here, Haxus.” Krolia reminded. “We should attain visual confirmation on an Altean ship before we report in.”

“ _Negative. You heard the witch._ ” Haxus reminded. “ _She’s upon the threshold of restoring the Emperor, and she wants as much more of the universe conquered as possible before then. Call it in immediately. That’s an order._ ”

Krolia smirked at this order. “Vrepit Sa.” Suddenly, she fired her retro-boosters until her fighter was right behind Haxus’ and she began firing.

“Oh, I see. You think you can hog all the glory for yourself?” Haxus smirked, evading her blasts.

“I couldn’t care less about glory. All I care about is liberty.” Upon hearing that, Haxus growled and opened fire on Krolia as well, blasting her starboard engine out of commission. Krolia went down like a rock, but not before she managed to obliterate Haxus’ ship with a single well-placed shot. Once she was caught in Earth’s gravity, she found no possible way to escape so she was forced to crash-land in the desert.

It was rough, to say the least, and she ended up landing the ship upside-down… but the crash drew plenty of attention from an old cabin. The resident, an older man with black hair and grey eyes, walked outside with a shotgun, but was surprised to see what was outside his property. Once he knew it was a ship, he grabbed his old wood-chopping ax and hacked his way into the cockpit until he found the prone female. “Whoa there. Who are you, beautiful?”

**Back to Present**

Keith was amazed as Krolia paused the video just as it cut out. “That’s how you met Dad. Why were you picked for the squadron?”

“As far as Haggar knew, I was simply the most observant and best fighter-pilot in my unit at the time,” Krolia explained. “But as for the Grandmaster’s orders, I was just one of the Order’s greatest infiltration agents.”

“So what happened? And… how did you come up with the whole space-boomer thing?” Krolia smiled at her son’s interest and resumed the video.

**Resume Video**

Krolia groaned as she pulled her eyes slowly open before they quickly snapped open and she looked at her surroundings; wherever she was, it wasn’t a Galra rescue ship.

“Oh. Howdy beauty. How ya doin’?” Once she heard that voice, she looked and saw her rescuer in the doorway. Naturally, he was probably expecting a more fearful reaction than what he got, which was Krolia jumping from her place on the couch and pointing her blade at him, making him squeak in fear as he backed away.

“Tell me who you are _right now_ and you may- Agh!” She wasn’t expecting this strange pain, but it was more than enough to force her to drop her weapon and fall to the ground. She checked and saw her uniform was in tatters and she had bandages around her mid-section, as well as a relatively simple cast around her left leg and right forearm.

“Easy there, beautiful. You got pretty roughed-up in your crash. Patched you up best I could, considerin’ I don’t know much about your species.” he warned, moving toward her.

Krolia quickly grabbed up her blade in her left hand. “What is this place?”

“It’s my cabin, we’re just outside Reno, Nevada,” he answered. “I’m Trevor Kogane.”

“And you saved me?”

“Yeah, your ship just went up in smoke about an hour ago; the Coast Guard might be here soon, so you’ll have to hide before they show. But before that, mind tellin’ me who _you_ are?”

Krolia was clearly less then sure, but she decided to lower her knife and see if this could work for her. “I am Krolia, a Galra soldier of the Order of the Blade.”

Trevor whistled. “Sounds pretty impressive.” Suddenly he heard a knock at the front door.

“Mr. Kogane?” Trevor recognized that anywhere, even without an introduction… which he received in a few seconds. “Sol System Coast Guard. We’d like to speak with you.”

“Uh yeah, be right there!” Quickly he turned back to Krolia and helped her up. “Cmon, there’s a sealed room in my basement. It should keep your life-sign hidden from their scanners.”

“Thank you.” It took a minute but Trevor finally got Krolia’s injured body into the sealed area, giving him just enough time to run back upstairs and answer the door to see three men in coast guard uniforms.

“Sorry fellas, just had to put something away. What can I help you with?”

“I’m Commander Parker, these are Lieutenants Boyer and Jonas. One of our new recon satellites recorded a few alien-craft engaged in a firefight in low orbit above this area a while ago. One was shot down in orbit and according to our projections, the other was damaged and crashed not too far from here.”

“Yeah, I remember.” Trevor nodded. “I went to try and help but the pilot was already dead. Figured I’d give him a proper burial before the ship went up. Might’ve incinerated his body, not sure.”

“What did he look like?” asked Boyer.

“Uh… green, red eyes. Wore some sort of uniform, might’ve been military.”

“Did you try and access his computers?” asked Parker.

“Oh-ho-ho, no way sir. I’m only good with tech if it comes with a throttle and at least one pair of nacelles.”

Jonas rolled his eyes at the old recluse. “Flyers.”

“Jonas…” Parker quickly shut his man up and turned back to the door. “Thank you, sir; sorry to disturb.”

“Not a problem. Always happy to help out Earth’s boys in uniform.” With that, the soldiers left the old desert-dweller and drove off to the crash site in their jeep. Once they were gone, Trevor went down to the basement and opened the sealed room. “Comfortable?”

Oh sorry, did I say room? I meant closet. And by closet I meant coffin. “Hardly. I had more room on my ship.”

“Yeah sorry, haven’t had much use for this thing for a while.” He pulled the young woman up out of the compartment. “How long until you’re healed?”

“Doesn’t feel too bad. I think I can get back on my own two feet within the next few cycles.”

“Alright well, maybe now we can get to know each other a little better.” Trevor shrugged, sitting down across from her.

**Back to Present**

“Not long after that, Trevor managed to come up with my alias and backstory for associating with fellow humans.” Krolia chuckled as she remembered it, skipping over a good few minutes in the recording. “And let me tell you, I honestly think I preferred being at home with Trevor.”

Keith smirked in understanding… until he turned back to the video and was immediately grossed out. “Oh for- Mom!”

Krolia looked and saw the clip of herself in Trevor’s bedroom wearing lingerie. “Whoops.” Quickly she skipped straight past that part. “Uh, sorry. You weren’t meant to see that.”

“Yeah, that’s kind of a big thing on Earth; you’re not supposed to see a video of your parents… conceiving you.” Keith noted. He didn’t even need to look to know who it was when he heard retching outside. “Lance, get the hell out!”

“Okay, sorry! Jesucristo!” The receding footsteps outside made Keith groan before he looked back at Krolia.

“You’ll have to excuse him, Mom; Lance’s a cool guy, but he can be kind of an idiot sometimes.”

Krolia smiled. “I understand.” Then she looked back at the hologram and smiled. “Oh. We’re almost there; you’re about to be born.”

“Wait, how did you blend into human society looking like… this?” Keith didn’t know how to describe it, but his mother clearly understood as she chuckled.

“It’s fine. Ever heard of a hologuise?”

“Tool the Garrison made for the fleet’s intelligence division. Special Recon operatives.” Keith remembered. “You managed to get one?”

“Trevor acquired one for me on one of his missions for the Garrison. I must say I was quite happy with it.” She smiled again. “But not quite as happy as I would be here.”

**Return to Video**

**Earth Date: October 23 rd, 2039**

**Time: 0534 Hours**

The video resumed standard play inside Reno’s Renown Health Hospital’s maternity ward to show Krolia, disguised in her human form, lying on the birthing bed and Trevor seated next to her… with a freshly born and cleaned baby in Krolia’s arms.

“Healthy-lookin’ little fella, isn’t he?” Trevor smiled proudly.

“Indeed.” Krolia nodded; she knew her child would be a strong one. “So, what should we name him?”

“Well he seems like the tough sort; barely cried at all so far and all.” Trevor smiled, letting his new son play with his fingers. “Figure we should give him a tough name to go with that attitude. How bout uh… Keith?”

Krolia smiled and looked back down at her son. “Keith Kogane. I like that.”

**Back to Present**

Krolia let a few tears leave her eyes as she watched this section of the video, remembering how good it felt to have a child. She looked at Keith and saw he was crying a bit as well. “I am greatly sorry to have left you, Keith. You must understand that I have regretted it every day since.”

“If you regret it, then why did you leave at all?” Keith asked, still crying a bit.

“This will answer.”

**Resume Video**

**Earth Date: September 23 rd, 2040**

**Time: 2135 Hours**

Krolia had just put baby Keith to bed and was getting ready to turn in for the night herself when she noticed her Blade start to glow. “Oh no.”

Trevor was worried as he saw his wife move to check out the window. “What’s the matter, hon?”

Krolia growled as she saw the familiar purple lights. “A Galra patrol. Haggar must’ve sent another party when mine failed to report. We have to stop them before they report back.”

Trevor quickly jumped out of bed and moved to dress. “You got a plan?”

“You have any explosives?”

“I always keep a few sticks of dynamite in here.” He cracked a small storage crate in his closet open and pulled out a few bundles of the famed explosive. “Doubt they’ll be enough to take down a fighter like that though.”

“If we detonate them in the intake valves, that should be enough to destroy them.” Krolia reasoned, quickly armoring up.

“Alright then; I’ll plant the bombs, you watch my back.” Trevor zipped himself into a black combat vest.

“And once that’s done, I’ll find out what the scouts know and then dispose of them,” Krolia smirked.

Without another word, the two left for the scouts’ landing area on Trevor’s sick new hover-bike. Once there, Trevor managed to get the first few bombs planted and was just about to move onto the last one when… “GAH!” He suddenly fell to the ground with a smoking impact above his shoulder.

“Trevor!” Krolia quickly moved to his side and pulled her blade to defend him as he dropped the dummy-stick on the ground. The three scouts moved up to the two and aimed their blasters at them. Krolia growled as she recognized one of them. “Haxus. How did you survive?”

“I almost didn’t, thanks to you.” He answered simply. “I was lucky to make it to the moon three years ago after you shot me out of the sky. I managed to flag a ride from there, and I have been incredibly anxious for vengeance. Now drop your weapon or your Solan friend here dies.”

Krolia growled in anger but didn’t have much choice so she slowly let her blade fall from her hand. But just before it hit the ground, she managed to kick it straight into Haxus’ rifle, destroying it. Quickly, she engaged in hand-to-hand to disable the other two but was too late to stop Haxus from boarding a fighter and starting to fly away… before it promptly exploded in midair along with one of the other fighters. Krolia was confused as to how until she looked and saw that Trevor had managed to get his hand on the dummy-stick just enough to press the button.

It was a few days until Trevor was able to walk again after his injury, which gave Krolia plenty of time to hide the last remaining fighter and start thinking about some things. She finally acted on them one week before Keith’s birthday as Trevor was tucking him in for a nap. “Trevor, I-” She could barely even bring herself to say it.

But she didn’t have to. “I know, Krolia. You have to go. But quite frankly, I thought you’d seen enough war.”

“If Haxus managed to transmit a distress beacon from that patrol’s ships, then this planet might be facing a fleet of warships soon.” Her reasoning was sound. “I need to report back to the Grandmaster and tell her all I know.” She moved over to Trevor and placed her hand on his. “I’m sorry. But you must understand this is the best way for me to keep you safe.” She glanced down and smiled at Keith, already slumbering in the afternoon sun. “Both of you.” She leaned down and gave him a gentle final kiss on the cheek before facing her beloved again. She drew her blade, now wrapped in high-strength bandages over the symbol. “When he’s old enough, give him this. He’ll need it to find me. And the answers he’ll undoubtedly seek.”

Trevor took the handle in hand and nodded at Krolia, giving her one last kiss before he hugged her as best he could with one arm. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

**Leave Recording**

“That was the last I ever saw of him. Or you.” Krolia did her best to keep back the tears as the hologram showed her board the remaining fighter and fly away from Earth, but she was clearly failing. “I- I am just _so_ , so sorry Keith. But you have to understand I only did what I thought was right to protect you.”

Keith was trying to hold it in as well but failing just as miserably. He could barely get a word out so he just jumped onto his mother in a hug and let it quietly flow.

Neither of them knew Lance was still watching from outside and was seriously torn up about what he had seen, which was the whole thing. He decided to give them some privacy so he left the hallway undetected to try and find the others.

And who should he run into but Allura, looking very unsure about their situation. He knew Keith would kill him for doing this, but he also knew that he had played the role of heartbreaker for long enough. It was time to finally play matchmaker. “Allura?” The princess glanced at him and raised her eyebrow at his expression. “I think there’s something you need to see.”

“What is it?” Lance was about to answer when Keith walked out of his chamber with his mother, both of whom she resumed glaring at.

“Where’re you going dude?” Lance asked.

“To prove I’m Krolia’s son.” Lance could still see tear-streaks on both their faces, which proved that they were both incredibly torn-up about the hologram.

Lance smirked and decided to go support him. “Not without us.” With that, he grabbed Allura’s wrist and pulled her along behind him until they all reached the main hall, standing once again before Marmora who still stared on in judgment.

“Are you here to tell the order you were wrong and to return the blade?” she asked.

“Yes and no.” The Grandmaster was confused, but it became _slightly_ clearer as Keith raised the knife, handle pointed out at her. “Take it.”

“Wait, what? Dude!” Lance was right to be confused; he thought Keith had said he was going to prove it.

“It’s fine Lance. I’m no real Blade, I’m hardly a Paladin, and I’m only a leader by the strictest definition.” He slid the blade further up in his hand as if asking Marmora to take it. “It doesn’t matter what I am, or where I’m from. I know _who_ I am, and you can’t take that away from me. Now we all need to work as one to take down Zarkon, and if that means I give up this knife then fine. You can have it.” Suddenly the mark at the hilt started glowing before it suddenly filled the room with a bright purple glow, nearly blinding everyone there.

“He has awoken the Blade,” Antok said in awe.

Everyone was confused as to what he meant by that until Keith’s blade started shifting; changing from the small dagger Keith kept on his belt to a large black scimitar. “Whoa.” Keith’s remark echoed the reactions of all his fellow Paladins and several of the Blades

“The only way this would be even remotely possible is if Galra blood runs through your veins.” Marmora rationalized. “You truly are Krolia’s son.” Then she did something rather surprising; she knelt. “And we would be honored to save the universe alongside you.”

Keith was surprised that she would kneel but smiled none-the-less. “As would we.” He turned to Pidge. “How much longer before the path back to the castle is clear?”

“30 more hours,” she replied.

“Forget that.” Marmora smiled. “Do you have any idea who inconvenient it would be if that was our only way in or out of the outpost? We’ll go out the back.”

Keith smirked and turned on the coms. “Shiro, we’re on our way back. And we’re bringing some people you should meet.”

“ _Copy that. Admiral Sanda’s ship is ten minutes out. See if you can get back aboard before her._ ”

“Roger.” Not long after that, the young Paladins flew back to the castle with Marmora, Kolivan, Antok, and Krolia in the cockpit, landing in front of the commanding officers and disembarking just as the admiral joined them.

“Admiral Sanda.” Marmora bowed in the leader’s presence. “I consider it an honor and a privilege to meet you.”

“Feeling’s mutual,” Ellen replied simply. “Assuming we can consider you and yours as allies in the war.”

“I pledge upon my blood that you can. But as you humans say, ‘So much to do, so little time’.” she said seriously. “I’ve just received word from Brother Thace in the central Galra hierarchy. Haggar has become aware of our presence, so the timetable for our master plan must be moved up.”

“How soon do we need to begin?” asked Shiro.

“Immediately…”


	35. Assignments

Snoring. That single sound echoed across the bridge of the Castle. And it was all Hunk’s fault as he was out like a light in his seat. He almost woke up for a second but then he just zonked out all over again… before falling a bit which knocked him awake. “Gah! Wha?! What’d I miss?”

“Oh, nothin’ major,” Lance smirked like a cocky prick. “The _Explorer_ docked earlier and we just came up with a huge plan to take down Zarkon.”

“Whoa seriously? I doze off for 15 minutes and the whole Guardian Force is back together with a plan to end all evil in the universe?”

“You’ve been out cold for three hours, dude.” Hunk gave a nervous chuckle at Wolo’s statement before he looked up at the main display to see not only a holo-com line to General Wegener and Pidge’s mother Colleen; a young woman with tan hair and hazel eyes, but also all the others and a massive hologram of Zarkon’s command ship.

“Are you sure about this, Captain Shirogane?” the general asked. “This seems rather foolhardy.”

“Which is exactly why we’re bringing the entire fleet and every Marine in the universe to make sure it actually works.” Shiro nodded. “It may be dangerous, but if we operate in complete sync with Voltron and V-15, it should work.”

“Zarkon’s reign will be at an end, and the savagery that has poisoned our entire universe can finally be wiped away.” Marmora agreed. “We’ve done it, Shiro.”

“It wouldn’t have been possible without your help, Marmora.” The grandmaster smiled and shook the captain’s bionic hand.

“As long as we all stick to the plan, it should work.” Allura reminded, still not entirely trusting.

“It _will_ work. And once it does, perhaps you’ll learn that not all Galra are as evil as Zarkon.” The princess glanced over at Keith standing near his mother with a smile… until he noticed, causing him to glare right back.

“I hope you’re right,” Allura said simply.

“Ulaz was right to trust you, Black Paladin.” Kolivan nodded.

Keith walked over with a smile. “He sacrificed everything to make sure we came together to end this war. Let’s make sure it wasn’t for nothing.”

“I’ll inform all my pit-bosses of the plan. The Marines will be ready.” With that, General Wegener’s holo-com was disconnected and he disappeared.

“So what _is_ the plan?” Hunk asked.

“Full-frontal assault with Voltron and V-15 leading the way for the whole fleet,” Rocky replied simply.

“That sounds incredibly idiotic.” That wasn’t _un_ true. “Zarkon and his fleet'll bulldoze us before we even get anywhere _close_ to the command ship.”

“Which is exactly why that’s what we told Charles.” Admiral Sanda smirked. "We're still not sure we can trust him, so if he relays _this_ plan to Zarkon, neither of them will expect it."

“So… what’s the _actual_ plan?”

“ _Way_ more inspired,” Lance smirked, displaying the parts of the plan with the holo-computer. “First we infect the ship with a badass computer virus. Then we build an extra-large Teleduv and latch it on, and warp it to an uninhabited star system in Coalition Space. Then when he stops, all like ‘Why isn’t my ship working?’, Voltron and V-15 take the lead for the whole fleet to blast him and his cronies into space dust!”

“Damn. So this is actually, like… _it_.” Hunk said in awe.

“We time this whole thing right, Zarkon will be ancient history,” Cliff smirked, checking his standard-issue plasma pistol.

“I guess the only question is; when do we begin?” asked Pidge.

Coran quickly brought up some specs on the computer to answer that. “As soon as we build a teleduv-drive big enough to warp Zarkon’s command ship.”

“Pfft. Aw man, that thing again? Does that mean we need more scaultrite?” asked Hunk.

“Tonnes more.” Jeff agreed. “Unfortunately, even if we hit every Unilu port in the universe, we still won’t have enough. We'll need to go straight to the source.”

“And even then, that’s just item _1_ on the list,” Allura added.

“So for this plan to succeed, we’re gonna need to split up.” Coran was coming into a leadership role of his own for the team, mainly as the wise old mentor. “We all have work to do. Keith and Hunk, you and the Strato Team are Alpha Squad; you’re in charge of getting the scaultrite. I’ve programmed the coordinates of a weblum's possible location into the Yellow Lion’s Navi-comp. Lance, Sven and Pidge, you’re Beta Squad; you’re going to those coordinates we found earlier. Turns out it’s a high-security prison holding Slav, and we need him free if this plan is going to work. Allura, you and the Turbo Terrain team are Gamma Squad; you’re going to Shay’s Balmera to get a crystal to power the drive itself. Shiro, the others and I are Delta Squad; we’re going to Olkarion to get the main body of the drive built and ready for the plan. Just remember; if one of us fails, the whole plan fails.”

“Alright, we all have our assignments. Let’s do this. All hands, move out!” Shiro ordered.

Everyone saluted. “Sir yes sir!” And with that, they all split up for their assignments with Sven borrowing the Blue Lion to fly his squadron in.

Back at Galra Command, Haggar’s druids were blasting more of their black magic into Zarkon, wearing his shoulder armor again to try and reestablish a link. It was going well until the magic flow stopped, dropping Zarkon to his knees. “Anything, My Lord?”

Zarkon growled at Haggar’s question. “Not so much as a tingle in my spine.”

“You are tired, my emperor. I think it would be wise for you to get some rest.” Haggar suggested.

“There is no time. I must find Voltron. With it, the universe will be rightfully mine.” Zarkon bellowed, standing. “Reinitiate the process.” Haggar couldn’t argue as she and her druids began the flow of magic again.


	36. Space-Jonah

Back with Alpha Squad, the Strato team had discovered a way to combine their vehicles into one large mega-fighter. But that didn’t stop Hunk from being a bit pissed off. “I can’t believe Allura and Cliff get to take a nice leisurely visit to the Balmera and we have to fly into the stomach of a giant space-worm to get scaultrite.”

“Hunk, stop complainin’ okay man?” asked Rocky. “It’s gettin’ annoying.”

“So is this war, dude!” Hunk argued.

“You heard Coran. Building a drive this huge isn’t easy.” Keith reminded. “Everyone else has a job and this is ours.”

“I know, but I always seem to get the worst jobs of the team.” Hunk shrugged before he started counting on his fingers. “Go to a Galra-invaded planet to get Voltron. Go to a Galra-occupied Balmera to get a crystal. Go into the stomach of a giant space-monster with the only Galra-alien team-member.”

“Okay, that’s just a low-blow dude!” Jeff was right, of course.

“Jeff, it’s fine. I’m not an alien.” Keith groaned.

“Well, you’re _half_ -alien. That’s way more alien than me. I mean I’m just Samoan, you’re part-alien.” Hunk argued.

“Hunk, you’re making him feel worse.” Ginger brought up.

“Okay I- Look, it’s- it’s bad enough Allura hates my guts now. Can you guys just lay the hell off?” Keith asked.

“Whoa, sheesh dude calm down.” Ginger shrugged. “Cmon, Allura doesn’t hate your guts. You just need to give her time to accept that you’re part-Galra. The race that killed her father and almost destroyed her planet.” Once she said that, she blinked. “Yeah okay, she might hate your guts a little bit.”

“And _that_ is why Lisa and Cinda are the Diplomatic Corps officers on our team.” Wolo rolled his eyes.

“Look, let’s just stay on task here, okay? Who did Coran give that video-file to?” Keith asked. “We need to find out how to collect this stuff.”

“I got it!” Chip quickly loaded the video into the Strato Fighter’s system and sent it to the other pilots. What they were greeted with was a young-seeming Altean man with a painfully familiar mustache.

“ _Hello, brave Altean!_ ” The voice was familiar too.

“No way.” Jeff snickered. “Is that Coran? That’s hilarious!”

“ _So you’ve been selected to go into the belly of a weblum to harvest scaultrite. Good on you!_ ” An image of a crystal of the material was pulled up next to him. “ _Scaultrite is an important substance with thousands of-_ ”

“Ugh! We already learned about all this at the Garrison!” Ginger groaned. “We know what it’s for.” Suddenly, just as the video got to where Coran said teleduv lenses, it started fritzing out.

“Oh boy, that’s not good.” Hunk said in concern.

“What’s wrong with this video?” asked Keith.

“Well, the earth time-stamp said the file’s a hundred years old; it’s probably been corrupted in some way by now.” Chip reasoned. “Hang on; lemme see if I can clear it up a bit.”

He managed it, but he wasn’t sure if they had missed anything important yet. “ _-I could go on for days,_ ” Video-Coran said. “ _But you’ve got a weblum to enter and some scaultrite to collect. Oh! Why look; there’s one now. Hello there, big fella!_ ”

It was obviously a guy in a costume, but it was still funny. “ _Hey, Coran! I’m off to eat some planets! Ooh, there’s one now! Nom-nom-nom-nom-nom…!_ ” With that, it zipped offscreen.

“Are we like four years old?” asked Jeff.

“I was about to ask the same thing.” Keith groaned.

“ _As you probably remember from school, the weblum is an enormous creature and an integral part of keeping our universe functioning. It survives off the- *frzzt* -leftover from dead planets. It then reconverts the Energex remnants by- *frzzt* -becoming the building blocks of new star systems. Incredible, isn’t it?_ ”

“Anyone else feel like we’re missing some important info here?” Rocky’s question was answered by nervous whimpering from the others as the video fritzed out again. “Okay, so not just me.”

“ _Of course, these are no gentle giants,_ ” Video-Coran said seriously. “ _They’re actually quite deadly giants, which leads to ru- *frzzt* -le number one. It’s an important one, so listen closely; Stay away from its- *frzzt* You got that?_ ”

“No. No, we do not got that.” Jeff said in concern.

“ _It’s like a rhyme. Say it with me; Stay away from its- *frzzt*_ ”

“Ah dammit, come on!” Chip did all he could to get the video running correctly.

“ _Other things to remember include avoiding the poisonous- *frzzt* -eye sockets- *frzzt* -could lead to certain death!_ ”

“Chiiip!” Ginger called in concern.

“I know, I know; I’m working on it!” One glance out the windshield of his craft and he was surprised. “Whoa. You guys seeing this?”

“Yeah, what are those?” asked Hunk.

“Looks like some sort of asteroid field.” Wolo guessed.

“No, they look more like… dead planets.” Keith said in concern.

“That’s weird.” Ginger checked the readings and was confused. “According to this and the charts, these planets are supposed to be thriving.”

“What do you think happened? Asteroid strike?” asked Rocky.

“No. I think it was our prey.” Keith scowled, looking at the screen. “These are the coordinates Coran gave us. We’re here.”

Wolo gave a strange whimpering sound as he looked out the window. “I think you’re right. Look!” Everyone did so and they saw a massive beast that looked remarkably like the guy in the costume from the video.

“Thought so. We’re right on the money.” Keith smirked before he locked his helmet’s respirator on.

“We gotta abort the mission. We haven’t watched the whole video yet. We have no idea what to do!” Jeff reasoned.

“We’re not going anywhere yet!” Keith ordered. “You guys fly, keep our distance. Chip, skim the video as best you can.”

“On it!” The intel chief quickly zipped back and forth along the video’s time-stamp until he found something.

“ _So you’ve made it into the weblum’s first stomach._ ”

“Too far!” Rocky yelled.

“Yep.” A quick few-second rewind later…

“ _So you’ve identified a weblum. Great! Now remember rule number one; Stay away from its face._ ”

“Wait-wait-wait. _That’s_ rule number one?” Hunk’s question couldn’t have been timed worse as both crafts drifted out in front of the weblum’s face.

“Oh shit! We broke rule number one!” Ginger yelled. The weblum opened its mouth to reveal a strange blue glow that looked about to fire.

“Oh god! What’s it doing?!” asked Rocky.

“Who cares?! Evasive maneuvers, now!” The pilots did it as soon as Keith gave the order, pulling up just as a massive blue laser shot out at the ships, vaporizing some of the planetary remnants.

“Cmon, cmon!” Chip was still skimming the video for something important.

“ _The weblum’s natural defense- *ksht* -venomous laser, deadly acid- *ksht* -total annihilation- *ksht* death monster-_ ” Now he was getting angry. “ _-to find its blind sport on the back of its neck, just below the gills._ ”

“ _That’s your way inside!_ ” the guy in the costume said. “ _If I can’t see ya, I can’t kill ya!_ ”

“You heard ‘em Hunk! Get us in there!” Keith ordered.

“On it!” Quickly, both crafts pulled up and flew straight in toward the gills. “We’re not gonna make it, we’re not gonna make it!”

“Stay on target,” Jeff said seriously. “Strato Fighter, disengage! Land independently!”

“Roger!” All the Drivers defused and their ships came in for a smooth landing, but Yellow was still skidding.

“Cmon big guy, _work with me here!_ ” Suddenly Hunk heard his Lion growling in his mind. “Oh, Hunk likey! Form Claw Booster!” Suddenly larger armored claws appeared on Yellow’s forepaws, grinding the craft to slow down. But it still wasn’t enough so a large rig appeared on the Lion’s back, firing jets to slow the beast to a halt. “Whew! Okay, that uh… that was a little too close.”

“Everyone alright?” Keith asked into the coms.

“Copacetic, Keith,” Jeff reported. “Now what’s the plan for inside this thing?”

“ _A quick recap of what to do when you’re inside the beast:_ ” Video-Coran suddenly said.

“Huh. That’s ironic.” Chip said bluntly.

“ _One; avoid things that want to kill you._ ” Obvious. “ _Two; Get to the third stomach and find the scaultrite gland. Three; activate the weblum’s defense mechanisms and collect the excess material from the gland. Now that’s the scaultrite. Good hunting!_ ”

Keith shrugged. “Sounds simple enough.”

“Sounds underexplained.” Hunk said concerned.

“We don’t have much time for anything in-depth, Hunk. We’re on a schedule here.” Jeff unstrapped himself and moved back in his cockpit, donning a space suit that resembled his Driver’s uniform and locked it on over his body. “All Drivers, suit up. Jonah is entering the Whale. Repeat, Jonah is entering the Whale.”

“Copy.” Soon enough, all pilots were ready to board the beast, flying down to the gills on their armor’s in-built rocket packs. Hunk and Rocky had a bit of trouble with their balance, but they quickly got it under control enough for the whole squad to fly in.

At Galra Command, Thace entered a sentry workshop to see one of the druids examining a disabled droid, which surprised him. “Would you mind explaining to me, Druid Haxor, why you are tampering with evidence?”

“Because, Commander Thace, I have been assigned to assist you in your investigation into the possible traitors on board.” The command ship had recently experienced some strange power fluctuations and security breaches and Thace had been placed in charge, with no one the wiser that _he_ was the one who caused them.

“On whose authority?”

“The High Priestess.”

Thace scoffed. “Haggar. Of course. Very well then; report.”

“I’ve analyzed the sentry that was destroyed just before the detonation in the shield generator room,” Haxor reported.

“The one Prorok killed; of course. I’ve already examined it.” Thace remembered framing his former commanding officer with destroying the sentry in order to achieve higher security clearance for himself and a better “in” in the central imperial hierarchy.

“Then shall I assume you found the trace elements of luxite on the wound?” Thace was suddenly frightened; he had forgotten to clean the luxite from the stab-mark, and now it was coming back to bite him. “It’s a very rare element these days. If we locate others on the ship in possession of it, we will have found our traitors.”

Thace knew he had to take some of the heat off him, and this was the perfect opportunity. “Well then, what are you standing around for? Begin your search starting with the lowest block.”

“I’ll assign some sentries to that.”

“Fine, just get it done.” Thace didn’t care as long as he could complete his mission. He could still feel the druid looming over him, and a quick glance over his shoulder confirmed it. “Is there something else?”

“As chief investigator, your life could be in danger. The High Priestess has given me orders to remain by your side until we either clear all personnel or find the spy.” Haxor explained.

Thace knew this wouldn’t work well, but he didn’t have much choice. “Very well. Just stay out of my way.

Back with Alpha Squad, the team had just dropped into the first stomach and were hovering down to a solid form. “Ugh. This is quite possibly the most disgusting thing I’ve ever done since I’ve joined Starfleet.” Ginger groaned.

“Well, you _are_ still just a Second Lieutenant.” Jeff chuckled at that as they landed… and Hunk’s foot fell into something.

“Ugh, gross! What am I standing on; a mucus pocket? Oh, I do _not_ like mucus!” Then he glanced off in one direction. “And is that steaming stomach acid? Lookit, right over there. Oh god, I really hope I don’t see any blood.”

“Hunk! Dude, chill. You’re freakin’ yourself out.” Keith tried to calm him down…

It went about as well as you would expect. “No. Standing six inches away from a _puss-bubble_ is freakin’ me out!” He stomped on the aforementioned puss-bubble and splattered it around, some landing on Ginger’s boot which freaked her out too. Then the steam revealed it was a sealed acid-vent which grossed them both out even more.

“Ew-ew-ew-ew-ew-ew!” Ginger quickly spread some emergency alkaline on her foot to neutralize the acid as Keith moved forward.

“Look, guys, we’re inside a giant disgusting space-worm, okay? There’s no way to sugarcoat that,” he said seriously. “We’re all gonna need to be at one-hundred percent if we wanna make it through this. Are you guys gonna be alright?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m good.” nodded Ginger.

“Okay good. Hunk, will you be alright?” Hunk was still freaking out with every direction he looked. “I said, _will you be alright_?”

“Okay. Okay.” Hunk did some deep-breathing and he was calm. “I’m good. I’ll be okay.”

“Good. We gotta be able to count on you, big guy.” He smirked. “Besides, no one on this squad knows an explosive digestive tract like you do.” He walked away leaving the others confused.

“Huh?” Jeff asked.

“Wait-wait-wait. Did you just make a joke?” Hunk asked amazed. He chuckled at Keith’s return smirk. “Seriously that was a joke, right?” Keith just jet-packed over to another flesh-form in the stomach and the others followed.

“Ohh, you’re saying he throws up a lot. Yeah, I get it now. It’s funny.” Jeff chuckled. “Really. Man, is it just me or is Galra Keith _way_ more personable than regular Keith?”

“Don’t make me regret this, Jeff.” Keith let out a breath and looked around. “Okay, so we gotta find a way around this acid. Ideas?”

“Well, we shouldn’t try swimming.” Chip noted, scanning the chemical. “This stuff is basically highly concentrated hydrochloric. Even with the new armor, our suits won’t last too long.”

Wolo heard something and looked up. “Hey guys, something’s coming out of the wall.” Everyone looked and saw a group of small creatures with two appendages.

“What are these things?” asked Jeff.

“I dunno. Maybe they’re some sort of bacteria.” Chip theorized. They started squeaking and floating around Ginger’s helmet.

Jeff was about to draw his pistol when… “Wait-wait-wait, hold your fire; they seem friendly. Maybe they’re just renegade platelets or something.” Two landed on her helmet and two more on her hands with one on her shoulder. “Oh, I think they like me.” She gave a cute giggle as she felt a strange sensation. “They’re tickling me.” Suddenly this sensation felt more like burning. “Wait-wait, that’s not tickling! That’s HOT ACID!” Quickly, she knocked them all off and pulled her gun. “Ah! Oh, they wanna kill us! They wanna kill us!” Keith and Hunk quickly switched their Bayards to ranged-mode as the other Drivers all pulled their blaster pistols.

“I think I’ve got an ID now; these things are the weblum’s equivalent of gastrointestinal microbiota.” Chip theorized, blasting a few down. “They’re trying to break down the weblum’s food.”

“You mean us!” Wolo said in terror as they all blasted some down.

Keith had to switch back to his sword to slash some of the bacteria apart but Hunk kept blasting until one of the bacteria’s bodies splatted against his visor. “Ah! Oh, this is gross! I can’t see!” He was forced to deactivate his Bayard and walk backward until he hit the wall… which then suddenly absorbed him into another part of the body.

“Hunk!” Keith yelled in fear.

“Bro, you good?” asked Rocky.

“ _Yeah! Yeah, I’m here! Surrounded by blood! I hate blood!_ ”

“You must be in one of the stomach’s varices. Try and make your way to the ones in the back. That’s where the third stomach is.” Chip ordered. “We’ll meet you there.”

“ _Copy that._ ”

“How are _we_ supposed to get down there, Chip?” asked Jeff.

“Simple. Full power to over-shields!” He flipped a switch on his arm and a light-blue energy field formed around his armor before he ran toward the lower level, which was filled with acid. “Cannonball!” Once he hit the acid, the bacteria following him were dissolved practically instantly.

“That crazy sunuvabitch!” Jeff chuckled. “Follow his lead, team! Full power to over-shields!” The others quickly followed his order and they all jumped in after the younger pilot, their chasers forgetting them below.

“Can’t believe that worked,” Keith smirked before an alert came up on his HUD. “Shields are failing. We gotta get outta this acid.”

“I think I see a duodenum down there,” Wolo reported, pointing at the large vent at the bottom of the acid lake. “Cmon.” Unfortunately, the vent opened up into a vaulted, dry stomach, causing the pilots to all fall toward the bottom of the second stomach.

“Everyone stay together!” Keith yelled. “We can’t risk getting- POHW!” This part was because the Black Paladin just landed gut-first onto some sort of growth.

“Keith! You okay, dude?”

“I’m fine Jeff. I’ll catch up.” He stood, groaning as he rubbed his now-sore midsection and was greeted with a great surprise as this growth he landed on wasn’t a growth at all; it was some sort of fighter. The alloy seemed familiar but he couldn’t put his finger on how. He looked into the cockpit in awe and saw that the pilot was still intact, though they had their helmet-visor polarized so he couldn’t see what they looked like. “Are you kidding me?”

Hunk meanwhile was still pinballing around in the weblum’s circulatory system, trying his best to steer to the third stomach, but it wasn’t going well as he suddenly got caught in some sort of vent. He tried to struggle, but he was straight-up stuck. “Oh shit.”

Keith meanwhile had slashed his way through the strange fleshy tendrils holding the fighter in place, granting him access to the cockpit. Once he had access, he flipped his sword into a back-handed grip. “Don’t move. I’ll get you out.” One strong stab and the canopy caved, allowing Keith to cut a hole in the glass and help the pilot out… only to be taken aback by the familiar emblem on their shoulder. Quickly, he kicked the soldier in the gut, stole their blaster pistol and locked it onto the back of his belt before aiming both his bayard-pistols at the soldier. “Should’ve known you were with Zarkon.” It was then that he heard a familiar squeaking from above and saw a swarm of the bacteria from earlier forming into a large ball above the ship. “Ugh. Not those things again.” Suddenly the soldier brought up a display on their arm-computer and pressed a button, drawing Keith’s attention. “What are you doing?!”

He got his answer quickly as a red light started blinking in the cockpit. “ _Self-destruct in 8 seconds._ ” That single statement from the computer made Keith feel the need to bail… as did the massive bolt of bacteria shooting toward the fighter. Quickly, Keith and the pilot jumped from the ship and allowed it to be surrounded by bacteria just before the whole thing went up in a blast that made the weblum growl.

“Get behind me!” Keith yelled, forming his plasma shield and getting in the way of the blast, which still sent them both straight through to the third stomach to meet the others.

“ _Keith! Guys, do you copy?_ ” Hunk’s voice over the coms drove Keith from the ground into a pained coughing fit.

“Yeah, we read ya, big guy. How copy, over?” asked Wolo.

“ _I’m stuck in a blood vessel, kinda causing a blockage. I’ll see if I can- Oop!_ ” Suddenly one of the only sounds over the radio was sloshing. “ _Yeah I’m- I’m free. Be right there._ ”

“Copy that,” Jeff replied as the Drivers all went to check on the Black Paladin. Suddenly they all noticed the Galra Pilot, who jumped off Keith’s back and grabbed their blaster before aiming it seemingly in the team’s direction. Jeff and the others all hovered hands over their pistols, and when the pilot fired three shots, Jeff was about to fire when he saw all the bolts fly past the team and hit three of the bacteria who managed to follow Keith and the pilot, splattering them onto the floor. “Okay. I guess you can keep that.”

“It would’ve been a chore getting it out of her hands anyway, Jeff,” Ginger smirked, spinning her pistol on her finger.

“Wait, ‘her’?”

“Yes her. Can’t you tell?”

Keith looked and shrugged. “Kinda hard to with that clunky armor.”

“You know the old rule for that; ‘Always check the groin’,” Ginger smirked… just before Hunk splooped out of the ceiling and landed right on top of her.

“Ugh. Oh my gosh, Ginger, I am _so_ sorry!” he said and quickly jumped off before his stomach started growling. “Oh god, don’t throw up. Don’t throw- hoo…” Then he noticed his commander and the ride-along. “Hey man, who’s this?”

“Pilot I saved in the last stomach. She doesn’t talk much. Also, she’s… Galra.”

“What, do you guys all know each other?” Hunk chuckled at that little joke, but Keith just scowled at his officer. “Okay, shutting up.”

“More to the point, are we sure we should be saving a Galra soldier right now?” Jeff whispered.

“We’re Guardians. And the Paladin Code says we save any and all those in need.” Keith reasoned. “We can’t just leave people to die, even if they are the enemy.” He hovered past, not batting an eye at any of the team. “Now cmon; let’s just get that scaultrite and get outta here.”

“Okay well, that- that might be a problem too.” Hunk remembered. “The scaultrite gland secretes some sort of mucus or saliva or something else gross, which somehow becomes crystallized. Only problem is that for that to happen, I think we need to trigger the weblum’s defense mechanism.”

“Great. How?” Unfortunately, Wolo wouldn’t get his answer as the whole team heard a loud rumbling as a large cluster of bacteria flew from the walls.

“Ugh! Not again!” Jeff growled, pulling his blaster. “Everyone back-to-back! Circle up!” Everyone readied their weapons but then Keith looked up in fear.

“I don’t think we need to worry about that.” The bacteria were forming up into a sphere again and shooting large whip-like bolts out at the pilots. “Dodge!” They all quickly did so, rocketing around the stomach on their rocket-packs which allowed them to blast and slash the bolts apart… before they reformed within the next two seconds.

“Oh crap, retreat!” Jeff yelled as all the pilots regrouped on the ground. “We’re outnumbered here, Keith! Gimme a plan!”

“I’m working on it!” Suddenly two large vents opened under the orb and pulled all the bacteria out in a large whirlwind. “Brace yourselves!” They all quickly grabbed onto loose folds of flesh on the ground to avoid getting sucked out as well. “Hunk, what’s going on?!”

“I think this thing is getting rid of the excess gas produced from its multiple stomachs!” he reported.

“Come again?!”

“It’s farting!” Hunk laughed at that.

“Seriously Hunk?! We’re about to die and you’re making fart jokes?!” Ginger yelled. “What is wrong with men!?”

“Focus Ginger!” Keith ordered as the vents closed and another orb formed. “Chip, what do we gotta do to get that scaultrite gland to goop?!”

“Uh… Oh! Uh, wait-a-second, wait-a-second, wait-a-second.” he said contemplatively. “‘Stay away from its face’… The blue laser…”

Suddenly Jeff smiled and snapped his fingers. “Ah! I got it! Hunk and my guys, on me! We’re goin’ out!”

“What? Why?” Keith asked as almost the whole team flew toward the vent.

“Because if we want that gland to crystalize the ooze, then we need to get farted out and attack the face to get the thing to fire its laser puke!” Jeff explained.

“Of course! Alright then, for the sake of the universe, _we’ll provoke the beast!_ ” Hunk said heroically. “You two stay here and get that scaultrite!”

“That’s what I like to hear, big man!” Jeff laughed, whacking Hunk on his back. “Alright guys let’s go; we’re goin’ upstairs!”

“Make it quick!” Keith yelled as he started blasting. “I don’t know how long we can hold these things off!”

“Copy that!” Quickly, all the others fired their jetpacks at full power, shooting them up to the top vent as they blasted away in every direction. The vents opened just in time for the team to shoot out to the weblum’s skin. “Monstro has sneezed! Washin’ up on the coast now!”

“Will you stop talking in code, Jeff?! It’s getting distracting!” Keith yelled.

“Got it! Sorry!”

At Galra Command, Thace had run to a communications terminal and planted an encrypted chip he hid under his fingernail, granting him access to the ship security codes. He had just obtained them when the door opened and Haxor entered. “Ah Commander, there you are. The lower block has been scanned for luxite. None was found.”

“Very well. Continue the search.” Thace ordered.

“Of course, but I must remain by your side. High Priestess’s orders.”

“And _my_ orders instructed you to stay out of my way,” Thace growled as he walked past the druid.

Back at the Weblum, the Yellow Lion and Strato Team had taken off and were moving to the weblum’s head. “Alright Strato Team, let’s fold it in. Form Strato Fighter!” On that order, the helicopters linked into the front and back of the Weapons Module as the Command Jet Explorer locked onto the Module’s roof and the VT Fighter locked on the side, engines facing down.

“Whatever you guys are gonna do up there, you’d better do it fast!”

“Copy that!” Jeff replied. “Pokin’ the bear now!” With that, both crafts flew out in front of the giant space-worm and Jeff honked his fighter’s horn on the subspace frequencies, allowing it to be heard through the vacuum of space. “Hey, Earthworm Jim! Over here!” But for some reason, the beast ignored them and moved past. “Cmon!”

“‘Earthworm Jim’? Seriously?” asked Rocky.

“It was the best I could come up with on such short notice, okay?!” asked Jeff.

Things in the stomach weren’t going so well as Keith and the pilot were getting swarmed. “Guys!”

“Okay, let’s try this again. Operation: ‘Poke the Bear’ take 2!” Jeff shrugged as the ships flew back out in front of the worm. “Let’s see you ignore us now, big guy!”

“Form Claw Booster!” At this order, Yellow’s new weapon formed and sent the Lion careening into the weblum’s face, which it bounced off of with a resounding whack. “Yoo-hoo! Over here!”

The beast still didn’t bat even _one_ of its six eyes. “Okay, now you’re just hurting my feelings.” Ginger rolled her eyes. “Rocky?”

“Full ordinance ready,” he reported.

“Fire at will.” That simple command and every missile and plasma cannon on the fighter fired on the weblum, finally drawing its attention to the two ships. It opened its mouth and the defense mechanism began to charge.

“Ye-hes! Yes, it’s gonna do it!” Hunk cheered, before he realized… “Oh crap, it’s gonna do it!”

“Keith, you'd better take cover; I think it’s about to get hot in there!” Jeff’s warning came just in time as the scaultrite gland began to glow and secrete some sort of viscous fluid. Quickly, he and the Galra pilot dove for cover just as a massive blue beam shot from the gland, vaporizing the bacteria and crystalizing the fluid into large lens-like bodies of scaultrite.

“Oh yeah!” Jeff cheered before the blast was just about to fire. “Oh no. DODGE!” Full power on lateral thrusters shot both crafts out of the way of the blast and allowed them to get back to the blind spot undetected.

“Whew! _Please_ tell me you have the scaultrite, Keith.” Hunk groaned. “I can _not_ take another close call like that.”

Keith chuckled as he deployed large balloon-like bags. “Yeah, we got it. Collecting now.” It took a while, even with the help of the Galra pilot but eventually, Keith had gathered up fifteen bags of scaultrite ready for pick-up once they were farted out. He had just finished filling bag 16 when he heard the whir of a plasma pistol… not one of his own. He sighed as he stood and turned to face the soldier who now had bag 12 slung over her shoulder. “Guess I should’ve seen this coming. So you _are_ just like the rest of ‘em.”

“ _I owe you one. That’s not exactly something a Galra would do every day,_ ” she said. Keith wasn’t sure, but somehow he felt like he could see through the polarization of her visor’s top, seeing a face that appeared… part-Drule.

Unfortunately, before he could question it, she flew away out of the beast. “Cargo’s on its way out.”

“Copy. Load us up.” Jeff requested.

It took a few more minutes, but the Strato Fighter was filled up and Keith was back in Yellow’s cockpit with Hunk. “Hey, where’s your buddy?”

“Probably long-gone by now. And she took a bag.”

“I _thought_ we were one short of your reported amount.” Chip realized. “Think we should go after her?”

“Why bother? Once we get this plan going, it won’t matter what Zarkon’s planning.” Jeff shrugged.

“Roger that, Strato-1. Let’s move to the rendezvous on Olkarion.” Hunk nodded as both ships set course there.

“By the way big guy, you really came through in the clutch back there,” Keith smirked. “We never would’ve nailed this mission without you and Chip’s brains.”

Hunk smiled. “Ah, thanks, chief. You’re all right.”

“Yeah.” Jeff chuckled. “Y’know, I think turning Galra has made you a better human.”

This really got under Keith’s skin as he growled. “I didn’t just turn Galra!” He removed his helmet to pinch the bridge of his nose and saw Hunk staring at him. “Are you trying to see if my skin is turning purple?”

“No…” Yeah, _real_ believable Hunk.

Then the communicator beeped and brought up an image of Cliff. “ _Gamma Squad to Alpha Squad, come in! Jeff, do you copy?!_ ”

Jeff quickly picked up. “Alpha reporting. What’s going on, Cliff?”

“ _No time to explain!_ ” Cliff replied. “ _Just get to the Javeeno Balmera ASAP! We need backup!_ ”

“Copy that, we’re on our way!” Hunk quickly kicked throttle and flew ahead at full speed with the Strato Fighter right behind him. They weren’t sure what was going on, but they knew that if the Castle needed help, they couldn’t hesitate.


	37. Breakout

Beta Squad had been redirected to the Demaria System which Sven parked directly outside of, aiming the Blue Lion directly at the prison in the planetoid cluster with Lance and Pidge in the Lion’s mouth ready to be shot out at an airlock.

“Okay Lance I’m ready to fire, but I feel the need to point out that this is insane;” he reasoned. “From our current position, I’d say the EVA airlock is 4 square meters max. Making this shot would be like jumping out of a moving car off a freeway into a shot-glass.”

“It’s okay; I’ve done that before,” Lance smirked. “Just be ready to follow us in once we have the security down.”

“Understood. Good luck.” With that, Sven opened the airlock and shot his fellows out, sending them rocketing toward the hatch.

“Alright, Pidge. Work your magic.”

“Copy that. Beginning long-range hack.” It took a few seconds but Pidge managed to get the airlock door open just before she and Lance hit it, sealing it behind them seconds after that which sent them tumbling through the chamber up to a large console. “Breach successful.” She looked around and raised an eyebrow. “Gotta say, this is a pretty big place just to hold one prisoner.”

“Well let’s hope this Slav guy is as good as Marmora says he is.” Lance shrugged. “Let’s take this place down.”

“Copy that.” Pidge quickly scanned the console and ran through the data. “Alright, sensors blocked. Sven, you’ve only got four minutes to scan the base and park before the security comes back online.”

“Understood.” Sven nodded as he saw all the patrol drones outside the prison deactivate. “Initiating subspace scan.” One movement on the controls and the Lion roared, sending out a subspace wave to encompass the prison before data came pouring back in. “Scan complete; uploading data to you now.”

“Received. We’re right on top of your landing point. Make it quick though; you’ve got 90 seconds.”

“Already Oscar-mike.” Sven nodded, flying Blue straight to the prison. Lance quickly opened the hangar airlock to allow the Lion in just as the perimeter drones reactivated.

Once the doors sealed, Sven disembarked the Lion with a smile. “Alright, pre-mission infiltration complete. Commence Operation: ‘Great Escape 2’.”

At Command, Zarkon was still having the druids administer their magic to him, but he still didn’t feel anything. “More! Give me MORE!” Finally, he started yelling as the magic coursed through his body in pain… until the magic flow halted, angering the tyrant. “Why have you stopped?”

“Forgive me my lord, but the high priestess ordered us to limit your- GAH!” this druid was suddenly interrupted by a large blade thrown from the central post Zarkon was on, knocking him off his pedestal onto the ground.

“ _I_ am your master here. Not Haggar, not Lotor. Me.” Zarkon growled. “Now, give me everything you can!” Another druid replaced the one Zarkon had killed and they all resumed their work, attempting to strengthen their emperor’s link with the Black Lion.

Back at the prison, Pidge went over the scan data on her wrist-comp with the others watching. “I’ve managed to compile a map from Blue’s scan. Looks like the prison is made of three separate concentric levels. Huh. That’s weird; each level is showing different types of security.” Then she noticed something else. “That’s weird too. The Order said this prison was built exclusively for Slav, but I’m seeing _two_ cells.”

“Huh. That _is_ weird.” Sven agreed. “Who else would be held here?”

“I’m thinkin’ a space-ninja.” Lance was just as goofy as ever. “Ooh! Or maybe someone with cool space-magic that can boost Voltron’s powers? I dunno, just spitballin’ here. Let’s just keep tossin’ out ideas.”

“Yeah, how about we do that _after_ we rescue the genius alien?” suggested Sven. “Can you get a visual on the cells?”

“Not from here. Maybe if I can get to the warden’s office.” Pidge shrugged. “And even then, this is the first the Coalition has ever even _heard_ of Thebans: we don’t know anything about them; their culture, their language, not even what they look like.”

“Then we’re just gonna have to check both cells.” Sven reasoned.

“Dibs on the closer one!” The two looked at Lance as he said that, but he shrugged. “What? My legs go numb in zero-gravity; still not better from the leap of faith outside.”

“Oy vey.” Sven groaned.

“I’ll head to the warden’s office. I should be able to access the security system from there. You two head to the cells and check ‘em out.” Pidge assigned.

“Understood. Let’s do this.” Sven nodded, drawing his bayard to ready status, just in case it was needed. Quickly, the three split up with Pidge slipping into the air ventilation system. It took some doing, but she managed to jetpack down behind the desk in the warden’s office, accessing the computer with some simple hacking.

Lance and Sven were together in a main hallway when Pidge came on over the coms. “ _I’m in._ ”

“You’re our eyes.” Sven nodded.

“Okay, Level 1 is patrolled by sentries,” Pidge explained. “Level 2 has hover-drones. Oh, and what looks like immobilizing foam cannons.”

“What about Level 3?”

“Looks like a closed system. Can’t access it from here.”

“ _From the warden’s main comp?_ ” Lance was right to ask.

“No single location can access the whole prison. Looks like some sort of security measure. Once you guys reach that level, you’ll need to link me in.”

“Understood. Moving now.” Quickly Lance and Sven ran down the hall, moving down toward Level 2.

“Great. While you do that…” Pidge began hacking the computer to access the communications records of the prison. “Let’s see what you have to hide, shall we General?”

Once the two others made it to the next level, Sven noticed a drone off to his right moving toward them. “Shit! We’ve been spotted!” Quickly he activated his ax.

“ _No-no! No, that guy’s mine!_ ” Pidge yelled. “ _He’s going to be your escort through this level. He can scramble the security cams._ ” And it did exactly that, shooting a beam into one of the security beams at this junction. “ _Sven, you take the left. Lance, right._ ”

“Copy.” Sven nodded, looking at Lance. “See you on the other side.”

Lance smirked and bumped fists with him. “Absolutely.” With that, they split up and began running.

“ _Okay, now there should be an access panel off to your side,_ ” Pidge instructed, basically telling the Paladins to open the panels. “ _Now connect your gauntlets so I can access the system._ ” They quickly did so, providing Pidge with data. “Alright, access to Level 3 achieved. Opening doors.” Once they entered, Lance was surprised by what he found.

“Uh Pidge, there’s another door down here. Any ideas?”

“ _Yeah, shut up and hide; someone’s coming._ ” Lance quickly listened and ducked out of sight just as a young, surprisingly attractive female guard walked in and toward the doors.

“Hello, nurse,” Lance muttered to himself as he saw her.

“ _What?_ ” Lance had forgotten that he was transmitting until he heard Sven ask him this.

“Uh, nothing. But seriously, these are some heavy-duty doors. How do I get through?”

“The cell-doors are sealed with facial recognition locks. Only authorized personnel can open them.” Lance was surprised by this sudden surprise until he saw the guard look over at his hiding spot. “Cmon out; I know you’re there.”

Lance sighed and stood, hands above his head in surrender. “Alright, you win. Open the cell and I’ll go in.”

The guard giggled. “Please. Nothing so grandiose.” She flicked her wrist up and revealed a blade of the Order, surprising Lance greatly. She then retracted the blade before smiling at her new friend. “I am Sister Dorma. Grandmaster Marmora had me stationed out here long before you ever met her. She simply messaged ahead a few minutes ago that my mission here to free Slav would soon be completed. I didn’t know she was going to send the Paladins of Voltron to assist me.”

This aroused Lance’s suspicions as he lowered his hands. “If you didn’t know we’d be here, then how did you know I was there?”

Dorma giggled. “Well, no offense intended here but… Well cmon, bright red and white? Not exactly the stealthiest of colors.”

Lance sighed. “Yeah okay, I’ll give you that one. So you’re with us then?”

“For this mission, yes. But after that, we must go our separate ways.”

“Why?”

Dorma sighed. “My brother Hazar is a high-ranking commander in the military; commander of the personal security detail for Viceroy Throk. He’s the one who got me my job at this prison. And if I disappear after a prison-break orchestrated by the Paladins of Voltron…”

“Yeah okay, I get the picture.” Lance rolled his eyes. “So, is Slav in here?”

“No, this is Warden Nerok’s pet Yupper Laika. I still don’t know why he insists on keeping her in a cell; it might just be to confuse the new-comers.” Dorma rolled her eyes. “Slav is in the other cell.”

“Then what’re you doing here?”

“I was on my way to break Slav out when Nerok ordered me to check on Laika. Massive detour, incredibly annoying.”

“I can imagine. You get that, Sven?”

“ _Every word. But I’m gonna need an image of Dorma’s face to get inside._ ”

“ _Lance, send me a picture; I’ll take care of the rest._ ”

“Copy that, Pidge.” Lance smiled, producing his smart-phone from Earth and aiming the camera at Dorma. “You have many people taking pictures of you?”

“Not exactly a smart idea to publicize your image when you’re part of an anti-totalitarian rebellion,” Dorma smirked. “But yeah, I’ve been in a few portraits.”

“Well, allow me to avail you of the most recent variety of photography in the Sol System; self-portraiture,” Lance smirked as he slid up next to her, holding the phone out in front of them both. “In this case, the magnificent art variety that is the selfie.” A quick click of the button and Lance moved away, plugging his phone into his gauntlet. “Face headed your way Pidge.”

Once Pidge received the image, she rolled her eyes. “Really Lance?”

“ _What?_ ”

“Ugh. Whatever. Creating 3D render.” It took a few seconds, but then the holographic image appeared over Sven’s gauntlet. He held it to the scanner and it bleeped, allowing him to enter. He saw something moving behind the bed that resembled a tall cylindrical alien being with two bright beady eyes, a long thick tail, four pairs of arms and a strange yellow beak-like mouth.

“Are you Slav?” Sven asked cautiously.

“Are you here to torture me?” he asked back in terror.

“What? No, I’m- I’m here to bust you out.” Sven was confused; what about him made it seem like he wanted to torture Slav? Then he remembered he still had his bayard in his hand, so he quickly put that away. “My name is Sven; I’m a Paladin of Voltron.”

“Oh no; even worse.” Slav groaned. “In 98 and 3/100ths of a percent of realities with a prison break, I die! And your chances are even worse!”

Lance had heard this whole thing over his helmet-com and was confused as he looked at Dorma. “Okay just thinkin’ out loud here, but this guy sounds incredibly weird. Are we sure we need him?”

“Thebans are known for being a bit… eccentric. Slav’s thing has always been about multiverse theory, but that doesn’t do anything to detract from the fact that he’s a genius.” Dorma explained. “But enough about that; do you have a hologuise?”

“Yeah, right here. Why?” Lance handed her the small device which she quickly reprogrammed and latched onto him to give him the appearance of a sentry. “Whoa! What the heck?!”

“Well you can’t exactly walk around this place in the image of a Voltron Paladin, can you? You’ll be shot on sight.”

Lance was about to argue, but he realized that was sound logic so he kept his mouth shut. “Alright, so… what now?”

“Now, we walk away and I get you back to your Lion,” Dorma smirked. “If anyone stops us, I say you’re malfunctioning and that I’m taking you to the maintenance area in the hangar.”

“Genius,” Lance smirked as the two began walking out. “Guys, I’m on my way back to the hangar.”

“Copy that. Just stay under the radar and- Shit!” Quickly, Pidge ducked down as a large soldier with what looked like titanium hands and Energix tanks on his shoulders, clearly the warden opened the main door and walked in.

“ _Pidge? Pidge, you good?_ ”

“Now is really not a good time, Lance. Just get to the hangar and we’re good to go.” Pidge had to whisper this as the warden sat down and scooted his chair up to the desk to analyze data from a drive he had with him.

“Alright, Lance looks like we’re on our own. We’ve gotta get back to Pidge.” Sven reasoned.

“Copy that.” Lance nodded, looking back at Dorma as they were walking down the hall. “Minor change of plans; we have to get to the warden’s office first and get Pidge outta here.”

“Fine. Just keep walking and don’t draw any attention.” Dorma muttered.

Sven looked back at his new Theban friend. “Cmon, time to go.”

“No thanks.” This just confused Sven.

“Are you kidding me?” he asked. “We finally have a chance to take down Zarkon and the entire empire. We have the Coalition Starfleet and the Order of the Blade with us, but without you on our side, this whole plan is gonna be a wash.”

Slav just shrugged. “Meh.”

Sven growled. “Listen punk, I can have you on the Blue Lion and off this junkheap in no time, but unless we leave now, we’ll all be prisoners here.”

“Ohh, the _Blue_ Lion. Why didn’t you say so?” Slav asked, suddenly happy. “Blue light has a frequency of 610 to 670 terahertz.”

Sven raised an eyebrow. “I’m aware; I took art theory in middle school. But why is that good, is- is that gonna jam their sensors or something?”

“Nope. That’s just my lucky range of terahertz.” With that, he jumped off the bed triumphantly. “Let’s go!”

Sven smirked and moved to leave… just before he saw Slav bunk down and start to wrinkle his blankets. “Oh for Thor’s sake!”

Slav yelped and messed his work up. “Aw! Now I gotta start over!”

Sven just bonked his face against the doorframe and groaned. “ _Kill me now…_ ” he thought.

Back in the warden’s office, the door opened to reveal a guard. “Warden Nerok, we have a problem. Lieutenant Dorma seems to have ignored your orders.”

“Explain.”

“The security computer logged her face-print at Slav’s cell, not Laika’s. We believe she may be trying to betray us by breaking him out.”

“Not on my prison,” Nerok growled as he stood up and walked after him. “Rally the guards over the coms and order them to detain Dorma on sight. You stay here and guard my office.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Cmon, leave already,” Pidge muttered as Nerok left.

Back in Slav’s cell, he had finally gotten the blankets to a specific degree of wrinkled. “Perfect!”

“You wasted two precious minutes of escape time doing _this?_ ” Sven asked. “You’d better be worth all this trouble.”

“Okay. Well, plus-side; there’s a two-percent chance this mission won’t result in a horrific, deadly fireball.” Slav reassured. “Time to leave.”

“Finally!” Sven groaned as they both ran out of the cell… until Slav saw a small puddle outside from one of the water pipes.

“Let’s go back!”

“Oh for the love of- just bring the blanket with us.” Sven groaned.

“What? No! The blanket’s perfect.” He zipped up and grabbed Sven by his chestpiece collar and squished his face up to it. “Don’t touch the blanket!” He pointed at the puddle. “It’s _that!_ ” One more drop fell from the pipe and made him jump behind Sven in fear.

“It’s like half an inch of water. We’ll be fine.”

“There’s a 12% chance I could slip,” Slav argued. “There are even realities in which I drown because, in those realities, I never learned to swim!”

“W-Well okay, how about this one? Did you learn to swim in _this_ reality?”

“I CAN’T REMEMBER! THERE ARE INFINITE POSSIBILITIES!”

“ **IT’S HALF AN INCH OF WATER!** ” Sven roared in his face.

“I can already feel myself not being able to breathe.” Slav groaned weakly. “My lungs are filling with water.”

“Ugh. Okay, sorry in advance but I _soooo_ do not regret this.” With that, Sven clocked Slav right in the face and hoisted him up on his ax-blade which he held over his shoulder, walking across the puddle.

Surprisingly, Slav woke up sooner than expected. “Your weapon is quite strong. Must be that Altean tech. But doesn’t it bother you that you can only access it one mode at a time?”

“Meh. Kinda.” Suddenly Slav jumped off onto the ground with a feared squeak. “Oh for the love of- what now?!”

“Look at all those cracks! I can’t step on those!”

“Are you kidding me?! I was carrying you!”

“Ohh, I guess _no one_ cares about their mothers’ backs anymore.”

“Hey, you don’t get to play the mom card dude!” Suddenly it struck him. “Wait, how do you know that nursery rhyme?”

“‘Nursery rhyme’? I’m talking about _quantum realities_ here.” Slav clarified. “Cracks initiate space-time temporal fissures, which mathematically make higher probabilities for alternate realities in which your mother has a broken back.”

Sven’s eye just twitched in anger. “That doesn’t even make any sense.” Finally, he facepalmed and dragged his hand down to his chestplate. “Look, is there another way to the hangar? One without cracks?”

“Well sure. We could co out the scree duct, but y’know, it’s all full of scree.” Slav shuddered at that, much to Sven’s chagrin. “There’s the vlaxenator, but you can hear the water dripping in there.”

Sven rolled his eyes. “And you’re worried about drowning.”

“Now you’re getting it.”

Sven just groaned and turned on his com. “Pidge, do you copy? We need an alternate route.”

“ _What’s wrong with the one you’re on?_ ”

“Do you want me to put him on the line?”

“ _Slav being a pain?_ ”

“Lemme put it this way; I’d rather be point-blank on a supernova with no spacesuit.”

“Copy that. Checking alternate route.” Pidge quickly pulled up a map of the prison, spinning the plasma shuriken he had shot the guard with when the warden left.

“ _Uh, Pidge? Now might be a bad time to say that Dorma and I are cornered._ ”

“Wait what?” And checking the feed, Pidge saw that indeed; Lance and Dorma were surrounded by guards with the warden approaching them.

“ _Now would be a really good time for a distraction._ ”

“Gimme a minute; I’ll think of something.”

Back with Sven and Slav, they were _still_ waiting for Pidge to find something until Sven snapped. “Alright, how about I just cover your eyes and carry you again?”

Slav narrowed his eyes. “I’ll still know.”

“Well, we’re stuck here until Pidge gets back to us and quite frankly, I _really_ wanna leave so let’s just give it a try okay?” Sven growled. Unfortunately, Slav screamed, which drew the attention of a sentry. It quickly went to investigate… and promptly got cut in half for its troubles.

Once Sven pulled his ax from the wreck, he pointed at Slav in rage. “Scream again and you’re next.”

“I was screaming?” This time it was Sven’s turn to scream… internally of course.

“ _Uh, problemo Sven; I don’t see any other way out of there,_ ” Pidge reported. “ _But the good news is that you’re not too far from Lance. Bad news is he’s surrounded._ ”

“No shit,” Lance muttered.

“Is there a problem, Warden Nerok?” asked Dorma.

“You tell me. Or is it an unrelated coincidence that the security system should show you at _Slav’s_ cell instead of Laika’s and that a sentry should not report your location immediately despite my orders?” the warden asked.

“I found it before you sent out the order. It was malfunctioning, so I was going to take it to maintenance.” Dorma excused. “As for the security system, it may simply be some sort of technical problem.”

“Two days after the system defrag?” the warden asked.

“Ugh. Screw it.” Lance suddenly deactivated his hologuise and started firing at all the sentries, mowing them down. Quickly Nerok flipped the two large bionic arms off his back and used them as shields. “Cmon!” Dorma rolled her eyes but went along with it, drawing her blade and slashing through all the sentries Lance missed as they ran away, Lance screaming. Suddenly the immobilizing foam cannons cycled out and started firing.

The two dodged as best they could, but the flack was getting too intense. “Pidge, shut off the foam guns; they’re killing us down here!”

“Already on it!” Pidge had just gotten to the guns’ programming when the main computer beeped. Her hack had succeeded, showing a list of General Wegener’s transmissions having passed through the prison’s communications relay… bound for the Korrinoth System. “I knew it.”

“ _Pidge!_ ” Lance’s yell quickly snapped her back to reality.

“Sorry! Reversing targeting systems!” Pidge smirked as her usual hack program emblem popped up on her gauntlet display. “This oughtta slow him down.” And indeed it did as the guns suddenly started firing on Nerok, sticking him to the ground.

“What? No!”

“Stick around, Warden!” Pidge smirked as she nudged the head of the dead sentry about her joke. “Eh? Eh?”

“ _Pidge, we’re about to freakin’ die! Now is not the time for puns!_ ” Lance yelled.

“Right, sorry.” Suddenly the door opened to show a battalion of sentries, all aiming blasters at the young Paladin. “Oh shit.”

“Find how they got aboard! Lockdown all exits!” Nerok ordered the sentries.

Meanwhile… “Cmon you little asshole!” Sven was trying to catch Slav, but he Theban had learned from before and begun demonstrating that they were a slippery race, making Sven just growl. “My friends are in danger and we’re running out of time. We’re leaving now! We are walking over those cracks; that’s the only option!”

“Why don’t we just turn off the artificial gravity and float over them instead?” Slav suggested. “Frankly, that’s the only way we’re getting out of this intact. I ran the numbers.”

That suddenly made Sven smirk. “Pidge, think you can turn off the artificial gravity from where you are?”

“Oh, that’s genius! Then the sentries won’t be able to maneuver, but we have our booster-packs!” Pidge smiled, doing it.

“Precisely.” Once the gravity went off, Sven hovered a bit off the ground just as a sentry was coming around the corner… and slipped and smashed into the wall. Sven chuckled as he turned around to point his back to Slav. “All aboard.” Slav quickly jumped onto the Paladin and he flew out down the hall… straight into two more sentries who aimed their blasters at him. “Bayard please.” Slav quickly handed him the weapon, which he switched into the freeze ray, paralyzing the sentries so they could pass.

“I knew it. That weapon is fantastic!” Slav smiled. “Now imagine if you could use both modes at once,” Sven smirked at that thought. “Our chances for survival would go up 300% from ‘totally doomed’ to ‘highly unlikely’.”

This made Sven’s face fall. “Okay, you ruined it.” Finally, the two teams rendezvoused back at the junction they started at. “Hey, Lance. This Dorma?”

“Yep. Gotta say this was a pretty genius plan.”

“ _Yeah well, it’s about to stop being genius,_ ” Pidge reported. “ _I only managed to temporarily knock out the gravity; it’ll be back online in three, two, one._ ” Once it came online, the sentries in the control room fell to the ground, allowing Pidge a clear shot out to run. “I’ll meet you in the hangar.”

Unfortunately, as soon as they opened the door, the other four were greeted by a battalion of sentries in front of the airlock, open from the inside to expose the Blue Lion’s shield… which then began firing on them. “Shit! Get to the Lion!”

Lance quickly ran ahead with his rifle, cutting down as many as he could before Sven fired his freeze ray and stopped almost all the others dead in their tracks. Lance was about to shoot the last one when a blade flew in and stabbed it through the face. Dorma quickly grabbed it and slashed, cutting the top of its head off. “I had that one!”

“First come, first serve; that’s how it works.” Dorma shrugged. “Now let’s just get outta here.”

“Slav, cmon!” Sven called to the Theban near the cargo crates.

“Be right with you!” he called as he adjusted some of the crates.

“SLAV!” Nerok called, making Slav jump to Sven.

“Okay, I’m with you!” The warden jumped down and landed right in front of the knights.

“So this is how you repay me for my hospitality, Dorma? Siding with terrorists? Betraying the Empire?”

“I was never on the Empire’s side at all. I am on the side of liberation. And with Voltron, I will bring it. Tell my family if you wish, I don’t care. Just don’t make me have to live here any longer!”

“Don’t worry. You’ll be going back to your brother…” Nerok said menacingly before he pressed a button on his belt. “In a body bag!” Suddenly the Energix tanks on his shoulders emptied into his body, bulking him up in a loud roar.

“He’s ‘roiding out!” Lance panicked, likely soiling his armor.

And apparently, this was the moment Pidge chose to arrive. “Okay guys, I’m ready to- what the hell is that?!”

“The warden,” Dorma answered honestly as the warden flipped down his bionic arms.

“None of you are going anywhere! And neither is the Lion!” he growled.

“Let’s test that theory, shall we Goro?” Lance smirked; he always had been the  _Mortal Kombat_ champion at his house.

“Who?” asked Dorma.

“Ugh. Typical.” Lance just pulled out his blaster and charged the warden, firing as he went. Nerok tried to grab him a few times, but then Lance slid underneath him and sent his fist shooting straight up into his crotch, making him stop cold and bunk over.

“Ooh-hoo-hoo-hoo!” Sven grimaced. “Nice one, man! Slav, open the door!”

“Way ahead of you!” he replied, opening both airlock doors. Naturally, all the Paladins and Dorma locked on their respirators as they and the Lion were dragged out into space. Slav quickly pressed the seal button before he jumped to follow the others… but he was caught by the warden before he could make it out.

“Slav!” Sven called.

“Hang on, I got this!” Lance yelled, switching his rifle to sniper mode. “Cmon baby.”

“Lance what’re you waiting for?!”

“A better target; I’ve only got one shot at this!” And once he had that shot, he smirked. “Slav! Duck!” One twitch on the trigger and the main servo in the arm holding the Theban shorted out, letting him float out to the others. Quickly Dorma gave him a helmet and respirator as she helped him to the Lion.

“Nice shot Lance! That’s why you always bring a sharpshooter to a prison break.” Sven smirked.

“Damn right,” Lance smirked as the whole team hovered back to the Lion and flew away.

Naturally, Nerok was livid at having lost not only his prisoner but one of his most trusted lieutenants. “Send word to Chancellor Mozak and Commander Hazar. Tell them Lieutenant Dorma has turned traitor.”

Naturally, Sven was ticked that Slav was looking around at all the controls in the Lion’s cockpit, but he was also very engaged in what Pidge had to say about the intel she downloaded. “It looks like our suspicions were right. General Wegener didn’t just want V-15 under his general command, he wanted Voltron too. My best guess would be that he was going to sell both teams to the Galra in exchange for the title of Viceroy of Earth.”

“You did good Pidge. The Garrison will be sure to get you a commendation for this.” Sven smirked.

“Plus, if we get asked to testify against him at his court-martial, that’s major bragging rights,” Lance smirked before looking over at Dorma. “What about you?”

“Nerok will have told my brother about me by now. My betrayal.” She clenched her fists. “I’m a fugitive of the Empire now. It seems our paths have aligned far sooner than expected. I wish to join the invasion force.”

“You’re on-board. Let’s just teleduv over to Olkarion and meet up with the others.” Lance smirked.

“You didn’t say we’d be traveling by teleduv!” Slav freaked out yet again, which pissed Sven off to no end.

“What’s the problem? We’re traveling by teleduv. So just count your hair follicles or fluff a pillow or do whatever it is you need to do to make sure we survive the trip in this reality and then never speak of it again because quite frankly, you’re driving me insane!!!”

Everyone was frozen in shock and fear at the White Paladin. “Dolce Madre di Dio,” Pidge muttered, slipping into her native Italian.

“I was just going to point out that the teleduv drive is a very efficient form of travel,” Slav said meekly.

“Is he always like this?” asked Dorma.

“Surprisingly, he’s one of the calmer Paladins,” Lance replied.

Suddenly the communicator came on and brought up an image of Cinda. “ _Gamma Squad to Beta Squad! Sven, come in!_ ”

“I’m here, Cinda. What’s going on?”

“ _We’ve got trouble on the Balmera! We need you here as soon as possible!_ ”

“You got it Cin. Sharpshooter is Oscar-Mike to you.” Lance smirked as he hung up.

“‘Sharpshooter’?” asked Sven.

“It’s my new nickname, that I gave myself,” Lance smirked. “Just- Just pass it on.”

“And I have to work with this guy,” Pidge whispered to Dorma.

“Woof. And I thought my brother was a handful.” Sven ignored the temper tantrum Lance was throwing right now and quickly set course for the Balmera at full throttle. Time for another battle.


	38. Guardian Force Assemble

“Okay-okay, one more round.” Gamma Squad was still en-route to the Javeeno Balmera, but even at slipspace speeds, it was a long trip so Marvin had suggested a round of charades to preoccupy the team. Right now, it was the mice’s turn and they started miming things out. “Two words.” Marvin didn’t tell anyone this, but he was an expert at charades so he knew what was being said.

“Second word…” Modoc watched as the largest mouse; Platt, waved his arm like a current. “Uh, waves?” Platt shook his head. “L- Like waves. Uh, radiation?”

“Wind?” Hutch suggested.

“Water.” Of course, Cinda got that one. “Boom! Okay, first word…”

The mice answered this by stacking up on top of each other and wiggling their arms like dinosaur claws. “That’s a bytor.” Allura recognized.

“Bytor water!” The whole team laughed as the mice ran around on Marvin’s arm for that correct answer.

“Attention everyone, we’ll be arriving at the Balmera in five minutes.” Allura had long-since revealed the existence of her parents’ AI to the _Explorer_ crew so no one was too surprised.

“Huh. Time flies, eh?” Cliff smirked.

“Seriously.” Modoc was surprised by the beep on his display that suddenly popped up. “We’re receiving a transmission from Olkarion. It’s Delta.”

“Put it through.” Allura stood and was happily welcomed by Coran’s holo-image on the line.

“ _How you doing, Princess? Almost at the Balmera, I hope._ ”

“We’re nearly there, we should be within slip-exit range in a few minutes,” Allura replied.

“Let’s just pray we can find a crystal big enough for the teleduv.” Cinda shrugged. “If we can’t, this whole plan is a wash.”

“Any words from the other teams?” asked Shiro.

“ _Beta called in a while ago. They’ve arrived outside the Demaria System._ ” Marvin replied. “ _No word from Alpha yet._ ”

Coran smiled as he twisted his mustache in pride. “I have no doubt my scientifically accurate instructional video was of great help.”

Allura grimaced; she remembered that video. “I’m… sure it was.” She quickly dropped that. “Anyway, they’ll probably have enough scaultrite for the system once we rendezvous. Will the drive be ready by then?”

“We’re almost done.” Sam was right; the massive warping drive was nearly larger than the entire capital city of the allied planet Olkarion. “Ryner’s had the _Explorer_ crew and her people working on it ever since we sent word of the plan. Trust me; we’ll be ready.”

Allura slumped in her chair. “I hope so.”

Alfor’s image appeared next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Is everything alright, my dear? You sound worried.”

“I- I’m fine. It’s just-” Allura shrugged, looking up at him. “I was thinking about you. You gave your life to ensure that Voltron stayed out of Zarkon’s hands, and now… we have a chance to defeat him.” Tears came to her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away. “I… I just don’t want to fail.”

“You won’t, my daughter.” Alfor smiled. “And you know I’m proud of you. After all, not two months ago, you told me you wanted to register for the Garrison on Earth. You were almost ecstatic when you learned you were accepted… but then you seemed mortified by the prospect.”

“I hadn’t felt so alone in years. Not since… well, mother.”

“ _Neither have I, honestly,_ ” Sam replied. “ _Melenor’s a good woman. And we could’ve all easily given up, but we just kept fighting. And look at us now; Voltron is alive again, we found V-15 and now the whole Coalition is *this close* to finishing this war._ ”

Allura smiled as she stood. “You’re right Sam. We have allies in this war. And _that’s_ what’s going to defeat Zarkon; not just this plan, but the combined hope of every sentient race in the universe.”

“ _Crack a squizzle on the Balmera, your highness._ ” Coran saluted.

“Thank you, Coran. Will do. Gamma Squad out.” With that, the termination ended… letting Allura see the confused look on Hutch’s face.

“‘Crack a squizzle’?”

Allura shrugged. “Eh. It’s similar to your human phrase ‘break a leg’.”

“Oh. Gotcha.”

“Alright, enough banter. Modoc shut down the drive.” Once that order was given, the ship drifted toward the Balmera before entering the atmosphere, drawing the attention of all the locals. “Take ‘er down easy, Cinda.”

“Aye-aye chief.” With a quick pull of the controls, the castle was flipped to land right on the thrusters, settling perfectly on the ground. Once the team was piled into a landing pod, it ejected from the castle and landed right in front of a large welcome-party, including Shay’s family.

“The Balmera welcomes your return, Princess Allura.” Shay’s grandmother smiled.

“Princess, does Hunk accompany you?” Shay asked hopefully.

“Shay, right? Well, I’m afraid not.” Cliff shrugged. “He and the others have missions elsewhere in the universe, gathering supplies. Our plan’s ready; the time’s nearly come to defeat Zarkon.”

“Defeat Zarkon?” Shay’s grandmother was in awe but quickly became serious. “How can we help? The Balmera and her people can never thank the Coalition enough for what they’ve done.”

“In that case, if the Balmera is willing to give it, our plan requires a crystal,” Cinda explained.

“Battleship-class?” asked Rax.

Modoc shook his head. “Bigger. _Way_ bigger.” His wish would be granted of course, but not without trouble.

At Galra Command, Haggar was pouring over ancient tomes when Druid Haxor approached from behind. “High Priestess, I come with further evidence of the spy within our fleet.”

Haggar closed her tome but did not look at her druid. “Speak.”

Haxor raised a small computer chip. “This encrypted chip was in the outbound quantum entanglement chain. We’re still trying to find the intended recipient. What do you wish us to do?”

“Return the chip to where you found it and wait to see who retrieves it,” Haggar ordered.

“As you wish, High Priestess.”

Deep within the caves of the Balmera, the whole crew was in awe of the sheer size of the crystal before them. It was enough to make Modoc give an impressed whistle. “Where’d this thing even come from?”

“When the Galra were here, these caves were closed off, as if the Balmera was protecting itself,” Shay explained. “But now that we are free and our home healed, the caves are open to use once more.”

“Well, what’re we waiting for? Let’s do that ritual.” Cliff smirked. Allura didn’t need to be told twice as she stepped forward and placed both her hands on the crystal, making it and the ground glow. Everyone else quickly kneeled and poured their energy into the ritual, making it glow brighter as the Balmera pushed it out of its cavity with crystal-spikes.

Modoc was spooked by a loud rumbling from the cave’s roof. “What was that?”

“Perhaps it is simply because a crystal of this size has never been asked for before.” Shay theorized.

“No. This is something… different.” Shay’s grandmother said in concern.

“Should we stop the ceremony?” asked Cinda.

The elder Balmeran shook her head and looked back to the princess. “Let her finish.” Allura strained herself as the energy continued to flow, sweat now trickling down her brow until the crystal was clear of the large pit it was in.

She smiled as she looked at the large structure. “Thank you.”

It took some doing, but with the help of the Turbo Terrain Team’s vehicles, the crystal was successfully extracted from the pit and loaded. “All set, princess!” Hutch called as he sealed the cargo bay. “We’re clear to leave atmo and head for Olkarion!”

Allura waved in gratitude to the ensign before she turned and hugged Shay’s family. “We wish you could stay longer.” Shay’s grandmother smiled.

“Us too, but a soldier’s work is never done.” Cliff shrugged. “Maybe we’ll come back and visit once the war is over.”

“Well, until then, safe travels.” Shay’s grandmother smiled, handing him a shell-like bowl. “I made you sticker-cup stew for the sky-road.” What was in the shell splooped out with several small tentacles, severely disgusting the whole crew.

“Oh. Uh, cheers.” Cliff had to force a smile to seem diplomatic. “I’m… sure we will enjoy this immensely.”

“Yeah, maybe Wolo will; that cleaner fish'll eat anything,” Cinda muttered to Modoc. She cleared her throat and walked forward as Cliff tried to pass the bowl to the others. “On behalf of the Coalition, I thank the people of this Balmera once again.” Suddenly another tremor struck, shaking everyone.

“Okay seriously, what _is_ that?” Modoc asked.

Marvin looked up in one direction and his eyes shrank in fear. “That!” He pointed up to the large crystal structure that had encased the Robeast long before… which was cracking. Two large chunks of crystal fell off, before the whole thing shattered, revealing the Robeast had a strangely corrupted crystal in its chest. Then it floated the two larger broken chunks up to its sides.

“Oh shite.” Cliff groaned. “Everyone get inside the Balmera! We’ll handle this!” Quickly everyone ran to follow the officer’s orders, with Cliff quickly hiding the stew in the kitchen for later. Once done, he and his team shot down to their vehicles and drove out onto the surface around the castle, locking weapons on the large monster. “Princess, raise the particle barrier!”

“Way ahead of you!” Allura replied, raising the shield to full power before the towers cycled out a large array of weapons, blasting the Robeast with everything it had. But it barely even scratched the beast who was hovering the crystals around in front of it as shields, blocking every single shot.

Suddenly a large green beam shot out of the crystal in the chest, flying toward the castle. “Incoming!” Modoc yelled. Everyone braced themselves just before contact which nearly brought the whole shield down. “We need a plan, people! Any ideas?”

“We have to lure it away from the surface!” Allura quickly fired the castle’s thrusters and took off from the Balmera.

“Form Turbo Terrain Fighter!” At that command, both ATSVs locked onto the side of the Jet Radar Station and the Rotating Carriers locked on above those. “Full thrust! Let’s get upstairs.” Quickly, Cinda fired a line of boosters on the back, sending the fighter flying after the castle, only for the Robeast to fly up after them.

“We’re gonna need to call this in, Cliff!” Hutch noted.

“Agreed.” Quickly he got on the coms. “Gamma Squad to Alpha Squad, come in! Jeff, do you copy?!”

The reply came in very quickly. “ _Alpha reporting. What’s going on, Cliff?_ ”

“No time to explain!” Cliff replied. “Just get to the Javeeno Balmera ASAP! We need backup!”

“ _Copy that, we’re on our way!_ ” Hunk agreed, signing off for his squad.

Cinda quickly began communicating as well. “Gamma Squad to Beta Squad! Sven, come in!”

“ _I’m here, Cinda. What’s going on?_ ”

“We’ve got trouble on the Balmera! We need you here as soon as possible!”

“ _You got it Cin. Sharpshooter is Oscar-Mike to you._ ” This little blurb from Lance before hanging up left Cinda confused, but she shrugged. As long as back-up made it, she was happy.

Then it was Allura’s turn. “Gamma Squad to Delta Squad! Coran, respond immediately!”

“ _Delta responding, Princess! What’s the matter?_ ”

“We need the Aqua Team on the Balmera immediately! We’ve engaged the enemy.”

That was all Coran needed to hear. “Understood Princess. They’re on the way.” Quickly he signed off.

Rick was already way ahead of him. “Aqua Team, combine and launch! Gamma Squad needs back-up at the Balmera!” he shouted into the construction pit PA.

“You heard the man, officers! Let’s go!” Krik’s orders were quickly followed as the Drivers boarded their vehicles. “Form Aqua Fighter!” At that command, the Multi-Wheeled Explorers locked onto the sides of the Communications Module and the Space Probers locked onto the ends of them.

“All set, Chief,” Shannon reported. “Let’s light this candle!” Quickly all the Drivers hit full-throttle on the thrusters and shot off Olkarion before activating the Teleduv. None of the teams had any idea what was going on, but it was time to see what they could do.


	39. Voltron & V-15 VS Argus Robeast-Frame; Round 2

The Robeast was still firing on the Castle and so far the Turbo Terrain Fighter’s weapons weren’t even making a dent. “Any day now, guys!” Cliff growled through his teeth. Suddenly he and the others were happily greeted by the Yellow and Blue Lions, as well as the other two V-15 Fighters, all of which quickly moved to engage with the Robeast… before having to quickly dodge a laser-blast.

“Whoa! How’s that thing even operational? We decapitated it!” Lance remembered.

“Yeah, and I checked; there was no AI backup like in Avok’s body,” Pidge remembered.

“Best guess? It has something to do with those crystals.” Chip theorized.

“We can’t worry about that now; we have to protect the castle!” Keith ordered. “Think; how did we beat it last time?”

“Okay, we formed Voltron then we activated the Hyper-Roar Cannon and shot it in the arm-lasers with the scattershot.” Hunk remembered. “But that wasn’t enough so then we had to cut its head off.”

“Okay, so we’re gonna need Voltron.” Sven reasoned.

“But we only have two Lions,” Pidge argued.

“Well, maybe we can form the legs and kick it.” That was quite possibly the dumbest thing Lance had ever said up until that point.

“Relax guys, my whole team is here and we’re more than prepared to cover you,” Jeff smirked. “Fighters, head for the surface and split up.”

“Roger that!” All the Drivers replied and flew down to follow his order.

“Lions, keep him preoccupied until we’re ready!” Cliff ordered.

“Understood!” Sven nodded, flying in with Hunk on his wing as they blasted at the Robeast to draw its attention.

“All Fighters, disengage!” Jeff’s order was quickly followed with all the independent vehicles scattering to the surface and landing ready to combine. “Engage V-15 Combination!” At the command from Driver 1, the vehicles all started driving in sync.

“Form Feet and Legs!” The All-Terrain Space Vehicles drove side-by-side; Marvin on the right, Hutch on the right. The Multi-Wheeled Explorers locked into their roofs by their rear-ends; Shannon on the right, Zandee on the left before the Sea Probers locked on top of them; Lisa on the right, Tagor on the left. Cliff shot his truck up into the air and locked on top of the leg assemblies.

“Form Arms and Body!” The Advanced Recon Helicopters flew down and locked their tails to the rear-ends to the racers; Wolo to Cinda’s Rotating Personnel Carrier and Chip to Modoc’s Advanced Equipment Carrier, the latter of which on both opened up to form hands. Then Krik’s Communications Module locked on top of the leg-unit before both arms locked onto Rocky’s Strato Weapons Module and flew it into place to lock onto the entire assembly before Ginger flew the Falcon VT Fighter in and locked it on as a chestplate with the cockpit aiming down.

“And I’ll Form the Head!” With that, Jeff flew his Command Jet Explorer and landed it on top of the entire body. Once in place, a panel opened and revealed a black and silver face before the eyes activated with yellow light as every pilot was sent to the central cockpit in the chest with the main Drivers standing strong.

“Alright guys, let’s do this!” Cliff yelled as the three moved to punch the Robeast, knocking its aim off and straight into two moons orbiting the Balmera… which promptly exploded.

“Mary, Mother of God…” Shannon said in awe. “Imagine if _we_ had weapons like that.”

“We do. But we’re gonna need all five. Sven, Hunk; fall back to the castle.” Keith ordered. “Allura, get to the Blue Lion’s hanger and get ready to tag in.”

“On my way!” Allura quickly transferred control of the ship to her father as she ran to her hangar. Both Lions quickly moved back as V-15 struck the Robeast over and over. At least, it tried to but the crystal shields were in the way.

“Ugh! This is getting us nowhere!” Jeff growled. “Chip, Wolo, do we have any other weapons?” Suddenly his question was answered; not by his officers, but by a strange engine-revving noise in his and the others’ heads. It was almost like V-15 was coming alive and speaking to them. “That works. Engage Plasma Propellers!” The propellers on the helicopters quickly started spinning and let off a powerful plasma field which quickly dropped into V-15’s hands. Quickly, the knight tossed them, causing them to spin around the monster, which moved its shields to intercept them, giving V-15 the opportunity it needed to shoot in and punch the beast in the chest, knocking it back.

At Galra Command, Thace quickly moved back to the terminal he was at earlier and retrieved his encrypted chip, slipping it back under his fingernail… only to suddenly be shot in the chest by a sentry. More quickly moved in and surrounded him, allowing Haxor to move up and look him in the eye. “Tell me, Commander, did you find what you were looking for?”

Thace just growled as he held his shoulder. “Drule wizard scum! Zarkon will have your head for this!”

Haxor smiled. “Thought so. Take him to the High Priestess.” The sentries quickly obeyed, picking him up and dragging him down the hall.

V-15 was still trying to take the Robeast down, but it had learned not to fall for the propeller-trick again, blocking every shot from the machine and managing a large blast out at the castle. “Watch out, guys!” Too late; the blast hit the particle barrier and it quickly fell.

“Get us in closer, guys! We need this thing distracted!” Jeff ordered, causing the pilots to fly to the Robeast. “Cmon big guy, gimme something we can use!” The engine revving in his mind gave him the answer. “Engage Nitro Sword!” The mech slammed its hands together and spread them to create a large beam of light. At one end, a broadsword handle with a gold cross formed. V-15 quickly grabbed it and swung it at the Robeast, forming a large silver blade which promptly clashed against the crystal shields.

On the castle, Allura quickly arrived in the hangar just as Blue landed and everyone jumped out. “Tag up!” Sven yelled and high-fived with Allura, who was confused when she saw Dorma.

“Who’s this?”

“Blade. Name’s Dorma. Now let’s get back out there to back the guys up!” Lance smirked. “Dorma, go with Sven and take the bridge! Slav, can you get the barrier working again?”

“Yes.” That’s what he _said_ , but he still stuck around.

“Now, por favor?”

“Oh, you meant in _this_ reality. Got it!” Slav smirked and walked in one direction before quickly running in the other.

Lance looked up to see Allura still looking on with a confused look on her face. “Don’t ask. Just fly.”

Outside, V-15 had gotten the Robeast’s attention and they were roaring around on the Balmera’s surface to try and bait it away from the castle. “Hard left!” Hutch yelled to the pilots. They quickly complied, kicking off on the right foot to drift to the left.

“Roll right!” Shannon yelled, causing V-15 to tumble on its side.

“Through that overhang!” Cinda yelled.

“Can everyone please stop backseat driving?!” asked Jeff. “It’s getting distracting!” Suddenly V-15 took a massive hit to the back from the Robeast’s beam, causing everyone onboard to cry out in pain.

“Guys!” Lance yelled, having seen this from his Lion which just launched.

Keith growled and sent Black flying in full-tilt to provide back-up. “Jeff, come in! Do you copy?”

“ _Yeah. Yeah, I’m here. But V-15 just lost almost all its power! We can barely move!_ ”

“Hang on, guys! We gotcha covered!” Lance smirked. “On you, jefe!”

“Alright then. FORM VOLTRON!!!” With that order, the Lions quickly flew toward the Balmera into formation.

The Black Lion’s forelegs folded into the body and it shifted for the head to be facing straight ahead like a human’s. Keith stood up and smiled as he dropped down the main cockpit chute.

The Red and Green Lions folded their legs as well and locked to the Black Lion’s shoulders, sending Lance and Pidge up to the cockpit as well. Once they were gone, the Lions’ jaws and heads unlocked and slid back on the arms, revealing large hands with circular plasma cannons in the palms.

The same thing happened to the Blue and Yellow Lions, but they locked to the Black Lion’s hind legs forming shins and feet, sending Hunk and Allura up to the cockpit as well. Once all the Lions had locked together, the Black Lion opened its mouth to reveal a silver metal plate which parted to reveal a silver face-plate with blue, red and green around the eyes, which suddenly flashed to solid yellow and the Black Lion’s gold ears folded out into tall horns.

Once all the Paladins were in the main cockpit, they all scowled as Voltron flew into the fray. Sven quickly deployed a combat-drone as well, sending it out from the castle to engage from the other side. Unfortunately, it barely got into the gravitational pull of the Balmera before the Robeast blasted it, draining all its power and causing it to explode. Thankfully, this brought V-15 back online, allowing the Drivers to get back into the fray.

“Whaddaya say to a little double-team action, Keith?” Jeff asked with a smirk.

“I say… Form Blazing Sword!” With that, Voltron’s great blade formed in the knight’s hands, allowing both defenders to slash at the shields. Finally, both warriors were high above the Robeast, blades still in hand.

“We’re running low on power, Keith!” Pidge reported. “We’ve only got enough for one charge at full thruster-burn, max.”

“Same over here!” Chip reported.

“Alright! Then let’s do it!” Quickly both defenders fired full thrusters at the Robeast, with the pilots screaming all the way down. The Robeast barely had enough time to close the shields in front of it, bouncing V-15 away. But Voltron’s blade connected perfectly, stabbing straight into the crystal. Quickly, Keith capitalized and twisted the blade for a vertical slash. He dragged the blade with a loud angry roar, slashing the Robeast clean in half. Then with one strong rocket-powered kick once its shields dropped, the Robeast was shot away to explode. Everyone there cheered and laughed in victory as Keith deactivated the sword.

“Nice work, Guardian Force,” Jeff smirked; the name was growing on him too. “Now let’s get back to Olkarion, shall we?”

“With pleasure.” Keith smiled as the guardians split up and the Paladins flew back to the castle. V-15 split too, reconfiguring into the Team-Fighters.

On the bridge, Slav was messing with the controls as he questioned most of the stuff on the ship. “Why bother with the grand entrance when you have a landing pod? And what’s with all the ziplines? You have _hover_ technology.”

“Well from what I’ve heard, ziplines are in style on Altea.” Dorma groaned. Finally, all the Paladins were back on the bridge.

“Oh thank Asgard.” Sven smiled. “So Allura, any word from Delta Squad?”

“Yes, thankfully. The teleduv drive is nearly complete.” Allura smiled, turning on the coms. “Hunk, Jeff, thank you for getting the scaultrite.”

“ _No problem Princess, but you shouldn’t discount Keith,_ ” Jeff smirked. “ _He saved our asses in there._ ”

Allura turned to the Black Paladin with a look of strange disdain in her eyes. Keith just rolled his own eyes and took off his helmet. “I need a nap. Someone come wake me up when we reach Olkarion.” With that, he left for his cabin, not even batting an eye toward any of the others.

“ _Course laid in, Allura,_ ” Jeff reported. “ _Just follow us._ ” With that, all the ships quickly shot across the stars toward the planet Olkarion… which gave Lance some time to look at Allura with a strange look in his eye, as if pitying both her _and_ Keith… though also probably apologizing to Keith mentally for what he was about to do.

"Alright uh... what do you guys say we head down to the commissary for lunch? I'm cookin'." Hunk smiled, trying to break the ice.

Naturally, the whole rest of the crew left, but Sven stuck around, his eyes stuck on Lance as he watched Allura. "You comin', Lance?"

"I'll uh... I'll catch up with you guys in a bit. Hey, King Alfor?" Lance asked, prompting the royal AI to appear on the bridge next to the Red Paladin. "Can I talk to you for a second?" He looked around the bridge. "In my hangar?"

"Of course. I'll meet you there." The king promptly disappeared, signaling Lance to follow him to the Red Lion's hangar. He took a deep breath and walked back to his Hangar elevator, which then shot down to the hangar.

“ _You’re gonna kill me for doing this, Keith, but it has to be done._ ” he thought before the doors opened and he was face-to-face with Alfor. “Alright so… this is kind of a long story.”


	40. To War

Olkarion was one of the quintessential examples of a habitable planet; temperate climate, plenty of forests, hardly any saline in the oceans and the lifeforms were more than friendly enough as Ryner was proof of. Not to mention the Olkari’s almost magical ability to control the natural structures of anything they could get their hands on.

And the massive teleduv drive was more than proof of that. “We’ve made incredible progress while you were all gone.” Ryner smiled, admiring her people’s handiwork. The teleduv might as well have been a massive city given the size of the space-time warping engines. “And now that we have all the required scaultrite, we should be finished within 20 hours.”

“Man. Y’know, it’s times like these that make a guy think about just how huge the universe is,” Lance smirked, admiring the large construct.

“Seriously. Nice work guys.” Keith nodded to Coran and Ryner.

“I’m with him, Coran.” Hunk smirked as he extended a fist. “Bump it!” Coran was confused but bumped his own fist to Hunk’s. “Now blow it up.”

This made Coran’s eyes shrink in fear. “Oh, don’t you dare! It took days to build this drive!” Shiro chuckled; he always knew Alteans struggled with earth-slang. “And let’s not forget that without it, our plan to defeat Zarkon is little more than a farce.”

Then Jeff saw something on one of the imaging feeds to the drive itself. “Uh, then we might wanna stop him.” Everyone looked at the drive and Coran gave a fearful squeak as they saw Slav whacking part of the drive with a rock.

“I’ve made some improvements to your design.” In what universe is hitting something with a rock improving the design? “This will increase our chances of survival in this reality 205%.”

Sam was just confused as he turned to the others. “Is this guy a little-?”

“Yes.” Sven.  
“No doubt.” Pidge.  
“Not a fan.” Lance.

“Stop hitting the Teleduv!” Coran yelled. Suddenly something near where Slav was exploded.

“Ow.” he groaned.

“Ugh, mother ‘a God. Medical team to the construction pit.” Shannon groaned as he walked down.

Later on, Allura was standing on the lip of the construction pit, watching the repair crews fixing what Slav did when Coran and her father walked up next to her. “Something wrong, Coran?”

“No, it’s just… this plan is rather dangerous, isn’t it?” he shrugged. “We’re taking certain risks here and so are you. This proximity to Galra Command, I’m- I’m just worried it might bring out some less than desirable emotions. And if you go berserk, you may not survive.”

“I’m well-aware of the risks, Coran,” Allura assured. “And I’ve learned much from Hunk and Shiro. I know I can keep myself in check.” She turned back to focus on the pit.

Alfor let Coran leave to look over some calculations as the king moved to his daughter, placing a hard-light hand on her shoulder. “Just know, my dear, that whatever happens, your mother and I are proud of the leader- the _being_ we knew you would become.”

Allura smiled and placed her hand on his own. “Thank you, Father.”

Alfor smiled before he remembered what he and Lance had discussed in the Red Lion’s hangar earlier. “There’s uh… there’s something else as well. Something we need to discuss.” He led his daughter away so they could talk in private.

The others were out on a hover-platform in the center of the drive, looking to the planet’s horizon. “What’s everybody thinkin’ about?” asked Pidge.

“Zarkon.” Keith nodded.

“Calzones.” This comment from Hunk prompted a barrage of strange expressions. “Uh, I mean-! Aw heck, yeah I’m thinkin about calzones, okay? I mean does it always have to be about Zarkon? He’s a bad guy, we’re tryin’ to take him down; I get it. I’m hungry.” His stomach growled to emphasize this.

“Eh. I guess I’m kinda hungry too.” Rocky shrugged.

Keith chuckled. “We’ve come a long way, but I guess we’re still just those same kids who ran away from Earth.”

Hutch chuckled. “Yeah. Remember when Hunk threw up during 360-control training?”

Hunk scowled at the Driver as he remembered something as well. “Remember that Arusian Allura mentioned in the hangar? Klaizap, I think his name was? Hm. Cool name.”

“Ha! Yeah. Keith wanted to fight him even though we had no idea what he was like.” Lance laughed.

Keith scowled. “He was their champion! I just wanted to see how I compared.”

Pidge laughed. “How bout when Shannon got drunk at the _Explorer_ ’s launch party and started a food-fight?”

“That was _the_ scariest thing that’s happened to me since I joined Starfleet.” Hunk smirked.

Cliff laughed. “Aw, cmon!”

“What?! It’s the truth!”

“We’ve faced cyborg sentries, alien warlords, giant Robeasts, space pirates…” Lance smirked.

“Oh and don’t forget that crazy nebula on our training mission.” Pidge reminded.

“Yeah, that was awesome.” Sven smiled.

“You guys realize that once we take down Zarkon and Wegener, Voltron and V-15 will just be set-pieces.” Jeff brought up. “We’ll be out of a job.”

“Well, I don’t know about that.” Lance shrugged. “I mean, after all, there are still criminals in the universe we can go after.”

“Why bother?” Jeff shrugged. “Once the empire crumbles, everyone else will fall right in line. We won’t need to do anything but worry about gaining rank.”

Keith nodded in agreement. “This is it, guys. As long as everything goes according to plan, we can’t fail.” Everyone stared off into the distance with a strong stare, ready to end the war permanently.

Back at Galra Command, Haggar had Thace strapped to a large panel with a glare on her face. “No more questions,” she growled. “I’ll get the truth from you one way or another.” Instruments of torture started to approach the Blade, making him sweat. Suddenly the communicator came on to General Wegener.

“ _High Priestess. I’ve recently received word that the Coalition Fleet is nearly ready to begin the invasion of the Korrinoth System._ ”

“I see. Thank you, General. Once we have the Defenders, Earth will be yours to rule.” Haggar nodded.

“ _Of course. But if you wouldn’t mind, I would appreciate some sort of advance payment-_ ” He wasn’t able to finish this thought as he found himself getting choked by strange energy lightning… which seemed linked to similar lightning in Haggar’s hand.

“Careful General. We wouldn’t want you to _choke_ on your aspirations.” Wegener nodded, clearly understanding as the witch released her grip on his throat.

“ _Alright, alright. I can wait._ ” he agreed. “ _Honestly, it won’t matter. Once I’m in charge of Earth, no one’ll mess with me. I’ll be the most powerful being in the Milky Way._ ”

Haggar chuckled. “Clearly General, you do not understand one of the greatest rules of Galra society.” One twitch of a finger and the general suddenly fell to the ground, clutching his back in pain. “The Empire comes before everything else, even life itself.” With that, the connection was terminated, leaving Haggar free to hear Thace’s pained screams.


	41. Lock and Load

It wasn’t long until the Teleduv drive was raised into a position to be lifted out of the atmosphere for the fleet to take to Korrinoth.

“Ryner, thanks again for everything you and your people have done.” Shiro smiled, patting his old friend on the shoulder.

“Oh, it’s the least I could do Takashi.” The old Olkari senator smiled.

Admiral Sanda stepped forward to the face the subspace transmitter, broadcasting to virtually every corner of Coalition Space. “Alright people, this is it. Today’s the day the first leg of the war ends. Once Zarkon is down, we’ll still have hundreds of planets to liberate and I doubt either Lotor or the planets’ occupation forces will be willing to give them up without a fight, but once they’re liberated, it’s my hope that we can build our forces further and continue the great Galactic Coalition King Alfor started those twelve years ago when he first landed on Earth. Now let’s win this!” All the Olkari cheered in approval of this ideal as the admiral stepped off the stage and walked to the others.

“Well said, Ellen,” Sam smirked.

“What can I say? I’m not tired of hearing myself talk yet.” Sanda smirked right back.

“Well, I hope that means you’re not tired of barking orders.” Shiro smiled. “It’s time to go.”

Ellen nodded and turned to the Lions and V-15 Fighters, all locked onto key points around the drive. “You’re clear to take her up on your mark, Lieutenant Kogane.”

“Copy that, Admiral.” Keith nodded, switching his coms around his team. “Alright guys, let’s go. Full thrusters!” All the ships did so lifted the Teleduv off the planet with the Castle and _Explorer_ following them to the rest of the fleet, orbiting the planet. “Hailing starships _Mjolnir_ , _Excalibur_ , and _Trident_ , you’re clear to take over.”

“ _Copy that, Black Lion. Moving into position._ ” Three _Arsenal_ -class battleships quickly moved in and captured the Teleduv in their tractor beams, allowing the Lions and Fighters to move back to their ships before the whole fleet quickly got underway.

At Command, Thace’s interrogation continued with Druid Haxor taking charge. “Commander Thace, you have been caught sending encrypted messages to outside forces. Of this, we are keenly aware. But if you do not wish to tell us who you were sending them to, you must realize that like encryptions, you can be broken.”

“I fight only for liberty.” That was all Thace had been saying this whole time, supplemented by the screaming that echoed through the chamber as he was pulsed with electricity for a few seconds.

“It was you who destroyed the sentries and sabotaged the main shield matrix,” Haxor growled. “You who allowed Voltron a chance to damage our emperor’s main flagship. You who betrayed Zarkon. Who else in High Command is part of this little conspiracy of yours?” Unfortunately, he didn’t even allow him a chance to answer as the soldier was pulsed again.

Back at the Castle, the whole crew was pleased to hear from Pidge’s mom, who had come aboard on Olkarion from the  _Turing_ -class intelligence-ship _Mata Hari_ , that General Wegener had recently been discovered by his aid sending transmissions to the Galra… after coming in to discover that his spine had somehow been broken. “Alright, very nice. And we didn’t even have to do anything.” Lance smirked.

“Yeah but the question remains; how did his back break?” asked Keith.

“Best guess? Haggar.” Pidge shrugged. “General’s ego must’ve gotten to him during a communique.”

“We can worry about all that, and prepping a court-martial for Charles, later.” Admiral Sanda assured. “Right now, I need all ships to listen up for mission-debrief.” Pidge quickly tuned the communicators to transmit to the whole fleet. “Alright people, listen up; this is the big one. Paladins Keith and Sven will take the Black Lion out, with Sven on-board in case a substitution is required at the last minute. Keith will enter Link-Space to bait Zarkon’s fleet out to our current location and make sure the main ship is within range for us to clamp on the Teleduv. Keeping the drive hidden behind the gravity generator’s space-fold until the last possible second is essential to the plan.” She turned to Slav. “Mr. Krantol, we can count on you to make sure that happens right?”

“Absolutely. I’ll be fine. Not sure about the gravity generator though.” He muttered that last part but Hunk still managed to hear it.

“Sorry what? What was that last thing?”

“Well it’s just that- Hiding a ship or a space station is one thing, but I’ve never had to build a gravity generator for something of this size before,” Slav explained. “I’m positive it’ll work, but I’m not really sure for how long.”

“That’s a risk we’ll have to take.” Sanda nodded. “Once the main ship is in position, Marmora and her men will coordinate with Thace. Together, they’ll disable Zarkon’s security system and upload Mrs. Holt’s virus. After that, he and everyone else on-board will be sitting ducks.”

Then Coran jumped and mimed some stuff with the holograms. “We’ll warp Zarkon 500 lightyears away, and he’ll be in the Eridanus system before he even knows what hit him.”

“Well, that’s the plan.” Sanda nodded. “Now we should expect the main ship to have some substantial back-up onboard, so I want all ships ready for combat should the need arise.” She turned to Marmora. “What’s the word on Thace?”

“If he keeps to our schedule, he should be assuming position right about now,” she replied. “We received his last communique three days ago. We should hear from him soon.”

“Alright then. All ships stand ready to commence Operation: Ragnarök. All fleet-heads dismissed.” With that final word from the Admiral, all communications feeds went down and Keith and Sven locked on their helmets. “Good luck out there, Lieutenant.”

Keith nodded and saluted to the admiral. “If this goes anything like the way it did last time, we’ll need all the luck we can get.” With that, they walked back to the black elevator and moved to launch. Sven had just climbed into the back of the Lion when the elevator opened again, and who was in it surprised Keith; it was Allura. “You here to see me off, Princess?”

“Actually yes. But first, I was hoping for a moment of your time.” Keith was surprised but decided to humor her as he faced her, removing his helmet.

“Alright. Make it quick though; this plan isn’t gonna run itself.”

Allura took a deep breath and made her point quick, clean and concise. “Is it true? What Zarkon told you?” Keith was confused and raised an eyebrow. “About your father?”

This instantly made Keith’s eyes pop. “How did you know about that?”

“Lance told my father,” Keith growled; he knew he shouldn’t have told Lance.

**Flashback**

Before the _Explorer_ docked outside the Order’s HQ, Lance had paid a visit to Keith’s cabin with curiosity and concern on his face. “So what happened to you anyway man?” Keith looked up at his number two in confusion. “In your hangar. How’d you get so roughed up?”

Keith got up and groaned, still stiff. “My Lion made it look like it took me straight out to Korrinoth. It showed me… weird visions of Voltron’s powers. I don’t think we’ve unlocked all of them.”

“That sounds awesome, but that still doesn’t explain what happened to you.”

Keith took a breath and looked at his officer. “After the visions, I was sent to this weird… I guess you could call it a pocket dimension; Zarkon called it Link-Space, and-”

“Whoa-whoa-whoa, hold the phone. Zarkon? You met Zarkon?”

“Only mentally, I think,” Keith remembered. “He explained that if I died in Link-Space, I would die in the real world too. So we fought, and I have to say that if it weren’t for the Black Lion, he would’ve killed me. But then…” He could barely bring himself to say it. “He said the accident on Altea that killed my father… it wasn’t an Altean that did it. It was Yurak.”

That was enough to make Lance’s eyes pop. “Dios. So your dad was killed by the Galra?”

Keith scowled as he looked at his mother’s blade. “Ironic, isn’t it? I finally get some closure about my mom when I find out she’s a Galra rebel, and then Zarkon tells me that my dad is killed by his right-hand soldier.”

“And you’ve been holding that in for the last five hours?” asked Lance. “Dude, this is unhealthy. We need to tell the others.”

“No!” This outburst from his commander scared Lance, but he still stopped. “We can’t tell them anything. Yurak is _my_ vendetta. I don’t want anyone else in the way, so you have to swear to me that you won’t tell anyone.”

Lance wasn’t sure about this, but he relented. “Alright. I swear on my grandmama's grave that this discussion will not leave this cabin.”

Keith nodded. “Thank you, Lance.”

**End Flashback**

“He looked me in the eye and _swore_ on his grandmother’s grave that he wouldn’t tell anyone,” Keith growled.

“I know. But my father checked; neither of his grandmothers are dead.”

Keith chuckled; he should’ve known Lance would pull something like that. “Well he’s a clever bastard, I’ll give him that.” He turned back to Allura with rage in his eyes. “What? Are you here to tell me I deserved it?” Allura’s expression shifted to one of surprise and disgust at this insinuation. “That my people are all worthless blood-hungry killers? Well maybe they are, but I’m still not one of them. I was raised human, so I _am_ human. If you have a problem with that, that’s your business.”

“You’re wrong.” This surprised Keith as he turned to her. “You couldn’t be any more wrong Keith. I was going to say… I’m sorry.” Keith raised an eye. “I’m sorry for every glare I’ve given you since Thaldycon, I’m sorry for distrusting you at the Order’s HQ, I’m sorry for everything.”

“Okay, where is this going?” asked Keith, genuinely curious.

Allura looked straight at him. “The Galra… we can agree they’ve done terrible things. Reduced entire civilizations to ash. Yours wasn’t the only family Yurak took.” A single tear fell to the floor as she said this, but she stood strong. “But over the course of this last month, I’ve grown to consider you and the others as… well, as the brothers, sister, and uncles I never had, but always wanted. So when I learned you were half-Galra, I…” She bit her lip as the words came to her. “I-I didn’t know what to think. I wanted to hate you, but… But I can’t.” This confused Keith, but not as much as the Princess’s hug surprised him. “You’re not the Empire. The Galra blood in your veins is of the Order of the Blade. I’ve just been too blinded by rage and hatred to see that.” Keith could feel a tear drifting down her face onto his neck. “I am so, _so_ sorry I misjudged you and your mother. You’ve proven to me that your human saying is true; Blood does not define character, actions do.” Then she did something even more surprising and kissed Keith on the cheek, making the Black Paladin blush. “Please… come back to us.”

Keith smiled and returned the Princess’s hug. “I will.” The two separated their hug and Keith moved to board but then he smiled and did something surprising; he planted a kiss on his first two fingertips and then touched them to Allura’s lips, making her blush bright red. Keith smirked. “I saw that in an anime once and I’ve always wanted to do it.” With that, he gave a two-finger salute and quickly boarded his Lion, which shot out of the hangar to just outside barely outside communications range of the fleet. “Alright Sven, you hear the Lion talking to you?”

“Yep. And he’s talkin’ tough.”

“Good. Let’s see what Zarkon can hear from us.” He closed his eyes and focused, trying to focus on entering Link-Space.

Sven smirked as he saw this and got on the coms. “Heimdall to Frig; Fimbulvetr has begun. Total war is close at hand.”

“ _Copy that, Heimdall._ ” “Frig” in this case was Admiral Sanda, nodding in understanding. “ _Let us know when to get the swords._ ” With that, she turned to the rest of the crew. “Clock’s running. Operation: Ragnarök is officially underway.”


	42. Ragnarök

At Galra Command, Zarkon was receiving another large pulse of magic from the Druids when Haggar arrived.

“Cease!” With that single command, all the Druids stopped and allowed the Emperor to fall to his knees in the center of the altar.

“Why do you disturb me, witch?!”

“My deepest apologies, my lord. But I fear your singular focus has-“

“Has what, Haggar?!”

Naturally, this spooked the witch into complacency. “I… apologize, my emperor. I’ve overstepped my bounds. But I feel I must tell you that my Druids have apprehended a spy within our ranks and Wegener says the Coalition fleet is on its way here now. If they are working together, then-”

“Silence! Let your Druids find out the details of whatever plan the Coalition has. You will stay here.” Zarkon ordered. “Either way, their plan will never work. The only thing that truly matters is that the empire reclaims command of Voltron. I require the Altean sorcery you stole and perverted to search the universe and retake the Black Lion.”

“ _You won’t need to._ ” Zarkon scowled as he heard Keith’s voice in his head. “ _I’ve already implanted my coordinates in your mind. If you want the Black Lion, you’ll have to come and take its chair from under my dead body._ ”

“Gladly, pretender,” Zarkon growled, turning back to Haggar who had already opened a com-channel to all his fleet-commanders. “Mobilize the entire fleet, including the Imperial Palace. I will provide the coordinates.”

Meanwhile, at those coordinates, Keith smirked; he knew Zarkon wouldn’t turn this chance down as he looked at Sven. “He took the bait.”

“Excellent.” Quickly, Sven opened a line to the castle. “ _Heimdall to Asgard: The Gjallarhorn is sounded; Surtur marches for Vígríðr. The War is begun. Is everyone in position?_ ”

“All but Thace. We haven’t heard from him. He was supposed to contact us two hours ago.” Marmora reminded.

“He must’ve been captured. Or killed.” Kolivan reasoned. “We have to abort the mission.”

“Out of the question,” Sanda ordered. “We’re too close to abort now.”

“The Order of the Blade does not take chances.” Antok reminded. “It’s how we’ve survived this last century.”

“It’s held you back, I think you mean.” Allura groaned. “Your overly cautious nature is the reason Zarkon has returned now.”

“We would rather wait now than jeopardize everything.” Marmora insisted. “Besides, it’s too late to get someone else on the inside.”

“ _Maybe not,_ ” Keith replied. “ _Sven, take the controls; I’m going in._ ”

“ _Hold on; what?_ ”

“What’re you talking about Kogane?” asked Sanda.

“ _Sven can take command of the Black Lion while I sneak aboard Zarkon’s command ship._ ” Keith reasoned, moving to his speeder. “ _I’m part-Galra, so I’ll be able to interact with their systems. Pidge, you already rigged up cloaks on all our speeders, right?_ ”

“Uh yeah, but-”

“Going onto Zarkon’s ship alone is suicide,” Marmora argued. “I would never command someone so inexperienced to take on a mission so dangerous.”

“Well good thing you're not commanding me then.” Keith shrugged, locking into his Speeder and pressurizing it. “Because even if I _was_ a member of your little club, you wouldn’t be able to stop me.”

Shiro groaned at Keith’s stubbornness but relented as he got on the coms. “Sven, take command of the Lion. All other ships, Keith is gonna infiltrate the main command ship via his Lion-Speeder. Be prepared to lay down cover fire for him once the fleet enters the system.”

“ _Roger that, Shiro,_ ” Newley replied, speaking for all the other ships.

“I hope you realize Takashi, that if this doesn’t work, I can have you court-martialed for overstepping your rank and sending a Garrison dropout on a suicide mission.” Sanda reminded.

“And I hope _you_ realize Ellen, that if it _does_ work, I’ll probably be wearing a Commodore’s badge next time you see me.”

“I hate to break this up guys, but we’ve got a problem,” Lance said, displaying his sensor readout. “They’re here.”

“Alright, let’s do this.” Sven breathed calmly as he took the Black Lion’s controls, strapping in just to be safe. “Keith, you ready down there?”

“Fire away.” That was Keith-code for yes, so the Black Lion-Speeder was quickly jettisoned, shooting out into the void before it cloaked right as Zarkon’s command ship and the entire Galra fleet appeared near the system star.

“Alright, let’s do this.” Sanda quickly hailed all the Coalition ships. “All ships, move into attack formation and deploy fighters. This could get ugly.” And it did as the Galra battleships started firing on the Black Lion, which Sven quickly had dodge before moving to engage with the rest of the ships.

“ _All ships, I want that Lion surrounded and the pilot killed!_ ” Zarkon ordered his troops as the fighters launched.

“Captain Torres, we’ve detected several fighters launched from the enemy ships!” a lieutenant on the _Defiant_ reported.

“Send this message fleetwide; scramble all fighters for combat!” the captain’s order was quickly followed by a large fleet of MFEs flying out of every capable ship to combat the enemy fighters.

“I’ve got fighters on my six; bringin’ em your way, guys!” Sven reported. “Keith, you good out there? We’ve only got one shot at this.”

“I’m free and clear. Looks like the Galra still haven’t figured out how to see through this cloak.” Keith smirked. “I’ve got a visual on a hangar. Moving to dock.”

“Copy that. I don’t see you, but I’ve got signal-lock. We’ll keep ‘em occupied.” Sven quickly flew every fighter within range toward the allied fleet as Keith struggled to keep his speeder level amidst all the blaster fire and explosions.

“Cmon, cmon.” he groaned until he finally swerved into the hangar just as a fighter was coming out. Once in the hangar’s cargo bay, he quickly activated the auto-return function to send it back to the Black Lion and jumped out of the cockpit with both blades drawn and charged. “Banzai!” A few slashes later, and all the guards were down and he had grabbed a Galra rifle just in case. “All aboard. Heading to the security terminal now.”

“Alright, looks like we’ve got this.” Lance nodded. “All Teleduv emergency security systems are online and ready to go. You’re up, Slav.”

“ _Affirmative._ ” he nodded. “ _Activating gravity generator now._ ” Once he turned it on, the Teleduv and all the attached ships cloaked before moving in.

On the main ship, Keith was pleased to see that he could indeed interact with the control systems as he opened a door and moved up. In Haggar’s lab, Thace was still chained up and being tortured by the Druids.

“We are currently tracking the Black Lion,” Haxor told him. “General Wegener informed us this was all some bigger plan, but what on Korrinoth makes you think it will work?” With that, the druid used his magic to toss Thace’s blade at his wrist before zipping into the prisoner’s face. “What are you distracting us from?”

Thace smirked at the druid’s proximity. “This.” With that, the soldier gave the druid an unceremonious headbutt and used his blade to quickly break free, stabbing both Druids before carefully slipping out.

“Alright Mom, I’m on the lower communication deck. Now what?” Keith asked.

“ _Head left down this next corridor._ ” No need to tell him twice as he turned and ran. “ _Based on Thace’s schematics, there should be a big door up ahead. That’s the central hub for the entire fleet._ ”

“I see it. Moving in.” Quickly he opened the door and ran in.

“Five minutes, guys,” Sven reported, fighters still giving him grief. “How’re we doing?”

“ _Keith still isn’t at the hub,_ ” Marmora reported. “ _Can you buy us more time?_ ”

“Depends. How much more do you need?” asked Sven.

“ _I hope not much, because the gravity generator isn’t going to run forever!_ ” Slav reported.

“Do what you can to keep it up, Slav. I don’t know how much longer I can hold off the fleet myself.” Sven reported.

“ _Good thing you won’t have to._ ” This voice was a breath of fresh air; as were the other four Lions and the Strato Team joining him in the dogfight.

“Nice timing, Pidge,” Sven smirked. “Alright people, we’ve got the main ship right where it needs to be. Keep it here until Colleen gets the virus uploaded.”

“On you Sven!” Allura.  
“Let’s rock n’ roll!” Hunk.  
“Aw yeah!” Lance.  
“We got this!” Pidge.

And it certainly appeared that way as the fleets blasted each other to scrap metal. On the ship, Thace was still running to the hub when Haggar’s druids saw him on the security system. Quickly, they disappeared to reappear near Lotor as he watched his father push Haggar and her druids to their limits.

“Sire, I fear this may be a trap!” she warned.

“That doesn’t matter. Just get me more power. I must connect with the Black Lion!” Zarkon ordered.

One of the Druids quickly whispered something to Lotor which greatly frightened him, so he spoke up. “Father, the spy has escaped! He’s headed for the main hub!”

“What?!” Haggar asked.

“Send every available Ultra-Black Corps sentry in the Palace! Kill him and any other traitors on-board!” Zarkon ordered.

Lotor growled: Haggar was right; his father’s single-mindedness about the Black Lion was blinding him to the threats in his own palace, but he still turned and drew his own blade. “Ezor, Zethrid; you’re with me. Acxa, rally every sentry you can and meet us at the hub.”

“Yes, my prince.” The generals nodded and all moved.

Meanwhile, Keith had made it to the hub and dropped the blaster near the console. “Alright, I’m here. Now what?”

“ _You have to initiate system reset, using the codes Thace provided,_ ” Kolivan replied. “ _It’ll be down for one minute, then we can upload the virus._ ”

“Copy that. Entering codes.” Quickly the codes were put in, but the computer beeped in rejection. “It’s not working. The guards must’ve changed the codes. Mrs. Holt, I’m gonna need help descrambling the new codes.”

“ _There’s no time,_ ” Colleen replied. Suddenly the rear door beeped and opened, quickly prompting Keith to dive for cover behind the console, feeling like punching himself when he saw he forgot the blaster he stole. “ _Keith, do you copy?_ ”

“Not right now. Someone just came in.” But his fear turned into relief when he saw it was Thace… and then back into fear when he realized that he probably hadn’t figured out the code-change… and it deepened into terror when he saw a battalion of sentries, two Druids and Lotor and his generals enter as well.

“I might’ve known _you_ would be the one to betray the Empire, Thace. And after I promoted you…” Lotor tisked at the soldier.

“You’re too late.” Thace gloated, aiming the blaster at his pursuers.

But this only prompted Lotor to smirk. “No, commander. I’m afraid _you’re_ too late. Security’s already changed the codes.” And indeed, the console blared in rejection of the codes again. “Kill him.”

“Gladly.” With that, both Druids charged the spy… only to turn again when they heard all the sentries getting decapitated by what sounded like a boomerang.

Then they saw it was another Blade’s weapon, flying back toward where it was coming from; behind them, which is exactly where they were shot and a concussion grenade was rolled, blasting Lotor and his generals back out of the room. Once that was done, Keith (who had done all the aforementioned epicness) blasted the door controls and sealed the prince out before turning back to Thace as he transformed his Bayard back into sword-mode and caught his Blade without looking. “You’re welcome.”

“We don’t have much time.” Thace nodded, not even questioning anything that had just happened.

Unfortunately, everything outside wasn’t going great as several Coalition ships were taking heavy flack from the enemy fleet. “Admiral, the _Marcus_ and _Longinus_ just lost their main weapon-system relays!” Sam reported.

“Divert _Defiant_ and _Retribution_ to cover them!” Sanda ordered. “Have them focus fire on ships attacking from the port quarter, and have maintenance ships standing by to receive _Marcus_ and _Longinus_!”

“We’re running out of time here!” Lance growled before pulling Red up out of a dive to allow two fighters on his tail to crash into the main ship. “The command ship is moving out of range for Teleduv-lock. Let’s bring her back in, guys!”

“Roger! All heavy cannon ships, focus fire on the command ship’s starboard and guide it back into place!” Sanda ordered.

“ _Admiral, this is the_ Castor _._ ” a captain relayed. “ _Our repair systems have nearly overloaded; the fleet can’t take much more!_ ”

“Understood. Kogane, how’s it going in there?” Sanda asked.

Keith quickly replied after pulling his sword out of a console. “The Galra switched the security codes. We’re trying a work-around.”

 _“Who’s we?_ ” asked Lance.

“Me and Thace. He escaped; Haggar’s druids were holding him prisoner when they found him out.” Keith explained.

“ _Roger that. Just get out here quick; I think I’m losing the Black Lion._ ” Sven reported.

“Understood.” Keith nodded, seeing Thace connect cables to the console. “What exactly are you doing anyway?”

“I’m transferring main power to overload the system.” That explanation was enough to pop Keith’s eyes open.

“But that’ll blow the whole chamber.”

“I’m afraid it’s the only way left.” Thace nodded.

Meanwhile, Lotor had arrived at his father’s ritual area to report. “Thace has barricaded himself in the central hub with the Black Paladin. We believe they’re trying to shut down the fleet’s systems.”

“What?!” Zarkon asked as Haggar and the druids dropped him. “The Black Paladin is on my ship?! How?!”

“I don’t know. We’ve found no ships on-board he could’ve used.” Lotor reported. “My generals are trying to force the doors open, but it may take a while.”

“Wegener’s report was wrong; it _was_ a trap!” Haggar groaned.

“Send every sentry to the central hub at once. Kill the spy _and_ the Black Paladin! _I_ will end this war myself.” Zarkon growled.

Meanwhile, Slav was doing everything he could to keep the gravity generator running as the Teleduv approached the main ship, but he was running out of time. “Uh, I don’t mean to rush us, but the gravity generator will lose power in eight minutes! If it goes down, the Teleduv is just going to be uncloaked in open space!”

“ _Do everything you can to extend that time-frame; we just need a few more minutes!_ ” Lance ordered.

At the hub, Lotor’s generals were trying everything they could to force the door open, including just having Zethrid ram it with her shoulder. “Stand aside, children,” Haggar growled, summoning her magic to her hands. “I’ll do it myself.” With that, she unleashed a massive mystic bolt and blew the door open.

Quickly, Keith drew both his pistols and blasted down a large pillar from the ceiling to block the door before any sentries could get through. But then he heard Zethrid groaning to push it out of the way. “That’s not gonna hold for long, and either way we’re trapped.”

“Hardly. There’s an exit through the main power conduit.” Thace pointed down the large pit of the room to show the conduit at the bottom. “The second deck is through there. You might as well go now.”

“Wait, what? No way, I’m not leaving without you.” Keith growled, grabbing Thace’s arm.

Thace just shook him off. “You must. The system has to be shut down manually, so one of us has to stay and your team needs you out there.” Thace placed his hand on the Paladin’s shoulder. “My path to Stor-ko-van opens here, but as a Paladin of Voltron, you have a much large mission, Keith. You must understand that.”

Keith growled but nodded, sliding Thace the rifle he stole. “It was a privilege serving with you, Brother.”

Thace gladly picked up the rifle and cocked it. “Likewise.” Finally, the barricade exploded, clearly caused by another magic blast from Haggar. “Go! Now!” Keith quickly jumped and jet-packed down to safety as Thace stood guard over his work.

Once alone with the opposition, he engaged the overload before he started firing and singing what Keith could only assume was some sort of Galra battle-song.

As he sang, the gravity generator’s humming slowed and died. “Oh, I hate it when I’m right.” Slav groaned before getting on the coms. “The gravity generator just lost power! Now there’s no reality where we all get out alive!” And indeed; the space-fold disappeared just a few kliks away from the main ship for all to see.

“Alright, looks like we’re going to plan B,” Sanda growled. “All ships rally at the Teleduv and protect it with your lives!” The fleet quickly complied, surrounding the Teleduv from all sides and opening fire on any Galra ship that got too close.

“Cmon Keith, hurry!” Suddenly Sven felt the Black Lion move on its own, clearly responding to someone’s command but he didn’t know whose. “Hey guys, I just lost control of the Black Lion!”

“What?! Do you see Galra symbols on the HUD?” asked Pidge.

“Actually no. Is that good?” asked Sven. He was about to get his answer as Keith was still running for his life toward the nearest evac area.

“CHARGE ALL HYPER-ION CANNONS!!!” Zarkon bellowed in pure, unbridled rage. “DESTROY THEM ALL!!!”

“We can’t wait any longer!” Sanda yelled. “Get that thing locked and set course for the Eridanus system; push as far past maximum warp as possible!”

“ _Yes Ma’am!_ ” the captain of the _Excalibur_ replied as the drive locked on. “ _Drive locked! Setting course and charging!_ ” Once the course was set, the drive started fighting the main ship to align on a heading to Eridanus and charging for warp-jump.

In the hub, Thace was still singing his battle-song as he blasted down sentries. Finally, Acxa looked at some of the power conduits in the room and her eyes popped in fear. “Everyone out! Now! The room’s gonna blow!”

Lotor quickly realized she was right and moved to the door. “Fall back! Fall back!” The sentries didn’t listen as he and his generals ran to the corridor-intersection and sealed a bulkhead.

Thace looked and saw the main data-core about to blow. With that, he knew he had succeeded and closed his eyes in bliss. “I will see you in Stor-ko-van, Brother Keith.” That was his last thought before the chamber detonated in a blast large enough to be seen from outside the ship.

It also caught up with Keith just as he was at an escape hatch. Quickly he sealed his helmet’s rebreather and raised his shield before being blasted out into space by the blast. Thankfully, he had barely managed to make it fifteen meters before the Black Lion flew in out of nowhere and caught him, pulling him up to the cockpit. “Wow. Nice timing, boy.” Then he turned to his ringer. “Tag up.”

“Fine by me.” Sven nodded as he jumped to the back and let Keith have his seat. “All yours, Colleen.”

“Way ahead of you. Beginning upload.” With that, she hacked like there was no tomorrow to send the virus. And just in time as the hyper-ion cannons were just about to fire when the virus took hold, bringing them and the engines down. And once they died, all the fighters and frigates died along with them. “Upload complete!”

The whole fleet whooped it up and laughed in success for a few seconds. “Let’s not celebrate too early, people. We still have to end this.” Sanda reminded. “All ships set course for Eridanus; full throttle.” The whole fleet quickly listened and warped across the universe after the command ship, the subspace slipstream destroying all the other Galra ships in the way.

“ _Slav, damage report,_ ” Keith ordered.

“The gravity generator burned out and fused all its circuits, but the slipspace field is stable. I’ve run the numbers and slipspace exit accuracy for the main ship is at 99.9%.”

“That’s what I like to hear.” Keith nodded. “Get the gravity generator fixed as fast as you can once you detach the drive. Something tells me we might need it again soon. Guardian Force, fold in. Let’s end this war permanently.”

“Sir yes, sir!” That bellow from everyone else made Keith smirk; if this was what having a command in war was like, he could only imagine that peacetime command would bore him to death. But that’s too far in the future; he always thought in the here and now, and in that here and now, he and the others would end the war today as the main ship stopped.

“On your order, Keith.” Jeff nodded. “We’ll follow your lead.”

“Alright then. FORM VOLTRON!!!” With that order, the Lions quickly flew into formation.

The Black Lion’s forelegs folded into the body and it shifted for the head to be facing straight ahead like a human’s. Keith stood up and smiled as he dropped down the main cockpit chute.

The Red and Green Lions folded their legs as well and locked to the Black Lion’s shoulders, sending Lance and Pidge up to the cockpit as well. Once they were gone, the Lions’ jaws and heads unlocked and slid back on the arms, revealing large hands with circular plasma cannons in the palms.

The same thing happened to the Blue and Yellow Lions, but they locked to the Black Lion’s hind legs forming shins and feet, sending Hunk and Allura up to the cockpit as well. Once all the Lions had locked together, the Black Lion opened its mouth to reveal a silver metal plate which parted to reveal a silver face-plate with blue, red and green around the eyes, which suddenly flashed to solid yellow and the Black Lion’s gold ears folded out into tall horns.

“Engage V-15 Combination!” At the command from Driver 1, the vehicles all started driving in sync.

“Form Feet and Legs!” The All-Terrain Space Vehicles drove side-by-side; Marvin on the right, Hutch on the right. The Multi-Wheeled Explorers locked into their roofs by their rear-ends; Shannon on the right, Zandee on the left before the Sea Probers locked on top of them; Lisa on the right, Tagor on the left. Cliff shot his truck up into the air and locked on top of the leg assemblies.

“Form Arms and Body!” The Advanced Recon Helicopters flew down and locked their tails to the rear-ends to the racers; Wolo to Cinda’s Rotating Personnel Carrier and Chip to Modoc’s Advanced Equipment Carrier, the latter of which on both opened up to form hands. Then Krik’s Communications Module locked on top of the leg-unit before both arms locked onto Rocky’s Strato Weapons Module and flew it into place to lock onto the entire assembly before Ginger flew the Falcon VT Fighter in and locked it on as a chestplate with the cockpit aiming down.

“And I’ll Form the Head!” With that, Jeff flew his Command Jet Explorer and landed it on top of the entire body. Once in place, a panel opened and revealed a black and silver face before the eyes activated with yellow light.

Once all the Pilots were in their main cockpits, they all stood strong as Voltron and V-15 stood strong for battle one last time.

History books across the universe would talk about this as the Battle of Eridanus in the centuries to come, and Keith wanted the names of the whole Guardian Force immortalized on those pages.


	43. The Eridanus Duel

“ _You’re going to have to act fast Guardians;_ ” Colleen seemed stern but warning. “ _The main power will only be offline for 20 minutes._ ”

“Thanks, Mom.” Pidge quickly typed as fast as she could, highlighting a few things on the ship. “Okay guys, this is it. Thace’s schematics give us four targets we have to kill; weapon systems, shield generators, engines, and the bridge.”

“Leave the defensive systems to us, Keith.” Jeff nodded from V-15’s cockpit. “You get on the bridge and finish that son of a bitch.”

“With pleasure. Let’s put an end to this dynasty once and for all! Form Blazing Sword!” One clash and the blade quickly formed in the knight’s hands.

“Engage Nitro Sword!” V-15’s blade followed shortly as the two swiftly flew around the ship, slashing at a breakneck pace as Zarkon’s men tried their hardest to fight through the virus.

“ _I want those weapon systems back online now!_ ” the emperor bellowed. “ _Restart the entire crystal core manually if you must!_ ”

“Our ship may be without power, my emperor, but we are not.” Haggar tried to assure Zarkon of this as he walked right past her. “I can use the Komar spell to draw the Energix straight out of the Guardians, rendering them and their pilots lifeless.”

“Haggar, the Energix would be too pure. We may not survive.” Lotor argued. “Let me go, Father. My ships are powered by a separate grid on Korrinoth, and they are much more dexterous than the rest of the fleet.”

“It is high time I face Voltron myself.” Zarkon’s last menacing statement was enough to terrify both his lackies.

“Father, no! It’s suicide!” Lotor’s pleas fell on deaf-ears as Zarkon moved to the door.

“I assure you, my son, that today the Black Lion will be mine. And when it is, I assure you that your weak mother will be free.”

Lotor just growled and ran in front of his father. “I don’t care, father! This obsession with the Lion is clouding your judgment! You cannot go out there! Father!” Unfortunately, Zarkon just walked right past him and out the door. Lotor snarled as he walked back out to the center of the room. “Get all our systems back online and contact my personal fleet! Haggar, prepare your spell! We must protect the emperor!”

“Yes, my prince.” Haggar nodded, turning away.

Outside… “Teleduv and thrusters are gone, but the main turbine may still give them some zip!” Hunk reported.

“Not on my watch!” Keith smirked, tossing the sword in without even thinking before the engine exploded and blasted it back out into the knight’s hand. Outside, the whole Coalition fleet was cheering at the impending victory.

“We did it, Ellen. Zarkon’s reign is over.” Shiro smiled.

“It was a long-time coming Takashi.” Sanda smiled back… before an alarm started going off.

“Lieutenant Brown, report!” Hawkins ordered.

“We’re detecting a large cluster of hyperspace breaches entering the system!” Brown reported as a large fleet of different fighters warped in. “It’s another enemy fleet!”

“Blast them down and give the 1st Guardian Force more cover!” Ellen ordered. All the ships quickly did so, blasting ships out of the sky as fast as they could as V-15 quickly cleaved through the ship’s cannons.

In a lower hanger, several scientists and engineers were working to purge their systems when Zarkon walked in. “Ready my Robeast-Frame.”

“Lord Zarkon, we’ve never successfully tested it.” one of the scientists argued. “To do-” This officer was unable to finish his thought as his head suddenly left his shoulders, courtesy of Zarkon’s sword.

“Would anyone else like to question their Emperor’s judgment? I said ready the Frame!” The other scientists quickly followed their orders as they lowered a control circle which Zarkon stepped onto and several Energix tanks were locked in, fully connecting Zarkon to his new weapon.

In the ritual hall, Haggar stood in the center of the chamber with her druids all around her. “Let the ritual begin!” With that, the druids sent all their magic to their leader which she condensed into a ball of black energy.

Outside Voltron and V-15 were slashing their way through the ship’s many nacelles and pylons on the ship, dissecting it and disarming it in mid-air. “Stay focused people! Engines are down! Now let’s take the bridge together!” Keith ordered.

“Fine by me, Lieutenant!” Jeff nodded as both Guardians flew up to the bridge… just as a large ball of black energy formed above them.

“What the hell is that?!” asked Lance.

Unfortunately, Marmora knew, and it was bad. “Keith, Jeff; get out of there now!”

“Fire!” Haggar’s order caused the large ball to fire at the Guardians, causing all aboard to cry out in pain.

“Wh- What is this?!” yelled Hunk.

“I don’t know, but my HUD’s not showing me good stuff!” Pidge replied. “Our life-signs… are weakening…” With that, she and all the others passed out and collapsed in the cockpits as Voltron and V-15 were left to float in space.

On the ship, Haggar and her druids were straining to contain the power; Lotor was right, the Energix from the Guardians was too pure as it burst a large containment cylinder and sent a massive subspace shockwave shooting across the galaxy, knocking all ships in the area off-kilter.

“Paladins! Do you copy?” Coran asked.

“Katie! Katie, are you there? Katie, if you can hear me, please respond!” Sam yelled in fear.

“Colleen, I thought you said that virus would shut down all of Zarkon’s power!” Sanda barked.

“It did. That blast was not of any of Zarkon’s weapons.” Marmora said calmly. “It was Haggar’s black magic. It must’ve been the Komar; a powerful spell used by ancient celestial wizards to extract pure Energix from planets to fuel their other magics. Its use has long been lost to the ages, but it appears Haggar has finally managed it.”

“Wait a minute. If this spell was meant to destroy planets, then what did it do to Voltron?” asked Shiro.

“Never mind Voltron, Shiro,” Krolia said in genuine fear. “What did it do to my son?”

“Let’s find out. I managed to get a video-link established with the main cockpits on both Guardians.” the communications officer replied. He quickly brought up the video-feeds, showing the pilots hovering around in their cockpits as the artificial gravity had been deactivated.

“Paladins! Keith, do you copy?!” Shiro yelled over the coms. “Cmon Keith, you’re tougher than this! Get up! Dammit man, get up!”

Keith coughed a bit as the oxygen came back to his lungs and he hovered himself upright along with the others. “ _Yeah- Yeah Shiro, I’m- I’m here. We’re okay._ ”

“Oh, thank the Ancients.” Alfor smiled. “Are the Guardians still operational?”

“Stand by.” Jeff groaned as the gravity reactivated on both units. He, Cliff and Wolo tried to raise V-15’s left arm but it wouldn’t move. “Negative.”

“Yeah, Voltron’s not responding either.” Lance groaned. “None of our controls are responding.”

“You’ve been hit by some sort of black magic that robbed you of your inner Energix,” Krolia explained. “We have to leave now! Another shot from that thing and you may not survive.”

“We may have a bigger problem than that Mom.” Keith was right; a hangar-door on the bottom of the ship opened and something huge came out of it; a massive Robeast that looked almost exactly like Zarkon.

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” Shannon said in awe.

“Come on soldiers, move it! Remember your practice!” Newley ordered. “Remember everything you’ve been through up to this point!”

Keith tried a taekwondo kick, but still, nothing happened. “Voltron still isn’t responding! Mom, I’m sorry about this, but it looks like we’re space-dust!” Suddenly the Robeast activated and Keith groaned, grabbing his head. “That thing… Zarkon’s piloting it!”

“We have to buy them some time. Take us in closer!” Shiro sent that order to all ships. “Divert all power to weapons!”

“ _Takashi, that’s insane! We charge in without any defenses, we’re doomed!_ ” Torres yelled.

“I realize that Katherine, but it’s the only way! Now follow my orders!” All the ships quickly followed the orders as Zarkon shot out towards Voltron, the fleet quickly moving up to the main ship.

“Listen, my brothers, you are all true Paladins now!” Alfor bellowed, Melenor holding her holographic husband’s arm. “Thus there is another way to recharge your units; connect with them! Reach out to each other, and to the Spirits of the Warriors themselves! Fight for all you are worth! This war cannot end now!” With that, the fleet started firing on Zarkon, who quickly raised a shield, though the blast sent him severely off-course and into a lower docking-pylon on the main ship… before he used the shield to send the blasts back where they came from; straight into the fleet, knocking them all into disarray and causing the royal holograms to glitch out.

“NO!” Keith yelled. The others were all in shock as they saw this happen. Allura just growled in rage, almost _sounding_ like a lion herself until she noticed something:… her seat was glowing bright blue.

“Allura, what’s going on?” Lance’s question wasn’t answered by her, but by a red glow from his seat, and a green glow from Pidge and yellow from Hunk. Suddenly their seats disappeared and control circles appeared in their place. The same thing was happening on V-15, starting with Lisa; mortified by what might have happened to her uncle Shiro.

Keith growled as well, chuckling a bit at this display. “Alfor’s right, guys. We have to fight. Channel all your rage and power into the Knights. Picture it! The twenty becoming two! We have to focus everything we have into sending the Empire straight to hell!” All the others quickly got the picture and focused as Zarkon stood up. “We are the only things left between Zarkon and the Coalition! And I don’t know about any of you, but I’m not letting him have it without a fight! Are you, Hunk?!”

“Hell no.” Hunk replied, bringing the Yellow Lion back online.

“Pidge?”

“Never.” Green swiftly came back online too.

“Allura?”

“Let’s end this.” The Blue Lion reactivated.

“What about you, Lance?”

“McClains always go down swingin’,” Lance growled as Red roared back to life.

“What about your guys Jeff?”

“We’re all in.” With that, V-15 as a whole came back to life, engines in all the components roaring at full throttle.

Keith scowled as he saw Zarkon extend a large plasma sword from his suit’s right arm. “Alright then. Let’s end this war!” The seals on both Guardians shone brighter than Eridanus itself for a few seconds as all the pilots on both Warriors stood strong as warriors. The swords rose, hardlight holograms forming in all the pilots’ hands as the knights charged right back at Zarkon…

…who started speaking over subspace loudspeakers. “Now I will take back what is mine!”

“You’ll have to take it back from Hell, you freak!” Keith roared as the knights clashed with the dark emperor, who seemed wholly bent on taking Voltron down, hardly even batting an eye at V-15.

“Summon the Komar again! We must fight beside our emperor!” Haggar ordered.

That would prove a challenge as the knights were moving too fast for Haggar to get a lock. “Alright people, let’s hit him with the big guns!” Keith ordered. “Form Hyper-Roar Cannon!” The large blaster quickly formed and fired, not even scratching Voltron’s energy reserves now, but Zarkon quickly dropped his suit’s large wings to act as a shield that dispersed the blast. “Jeff, we need more firepower!”

“On it!” Jeff and his fellows had suddenly heard about a new weapon from V-15 itself, and were keen to use it. “Engage V12 Cannon!” With that, the Falcon VT Fighter flipped up and a large weapon that appeared in the form of a massive V12 engine formed on V-15’s chest, firing alongside its brother, sending Zarkon back.

“Attack!” Haggar yelled, blasting the Komar at the Guardians again… but this time Cliff saw it.

“Oh, you want our power again do ya Lovely?” he smirked. “Well, here it is!” With that, he turned V-15 and fired the cannon at the Komar-beam at full power, causing a massive collision and explosion. “Keith, cover us!”

“On it!” Voltron quickly intercepted Zarkon’s kick, which sent him hurtling across the battlefield.

Back on the Castle, Coran was the first to wake up with a splitting headache and see everyone floating. “Alfor!” Quickly he floated over to the royal holograms and found them still glitching out. “Hang on, I’ll see if I can fix you. I-”

Alfor stopped his old friend with a holographic hand on his shoulder. “ _Listen well, old friend; our AI-chips have been corrupted. You may soon find yourselves bereft of our wisdom. I just wanted to say it’s been a privilege serving with you._ ”

“What? No. No, there has to be some way. Allura still isn’t prepared for the throne.” Coran argued. “She still needs you. _The Paladins_ still need you.”

“ _She will find a way. If she is a Chosen, then she will be able to speak with us from beyond the Veil of Sintorale._ ” Alfor nodded. “ _You must search the archives; teach her everything there is to know about her powers. Promise you will do this for me, and your debt to the royal family will be fulfilled._ ”

Coran found himself without many words and with tears coming down his face, but he managed a weak smile and nodded. “I promise.” That was all they managed to hear before the royal AI’s chips shorted out, unrecoverable. Once those died, the other systems came back on, including artificial gravity which certainly woke the others up.

“Damage report,” Shiro ordered.

Coran quickly checked the readouts of all the ships. “Our forces are decimated; nearly all ships have lost essential systems. The Castle isn’t much better; particle barrier array and all main weapon systems are still offline. As are communications. The Guardian Force is on its own. Starfleet is out of this fight.”

“Not on my watch we’re not,” Sanda growled. “Coran, Holts, find Slav and do all you can to get the Castle running again. Marmora, can you and your men get us to the Komar?”

“It’s going to be dangerous, but I use to clean on that old tub,” Marmora smirked. “I know every shortcut on-board you could think of.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” Sanda smirked, cocking a plasma assault rifle. “Shiro, you’re with us, Kolivan and Antok. We’re taking that witch down. Once we do, the Guardian Force is free and clear. You have the bridge, Commander Holt.”

Sam knew Ellen facing Haggar directly was suicide, but it was the only option they really had. Plus he knew how much of a bite she had so he just nodded. “Yes, Admiral.”

Outside, the duel for the universe was still going on, as V-15 had successfully held the Komar back and was fighting alongside Voltron again. Though Zarkon wasn’t making it easy as he had activated a second plasma blade, the Pilots did all they could to win. “This thing is too powerful!” Pidge yelled. “We may not survive!”

“One way or another, this battle will decide the fate of the war!” Keith growled. “We have to give it our all if we hope to have the Fates on our side! Keep fighting!”

In the hangar, the Admiral had just launched a pod out of the castle with her selected crew and an exorbitant amount of weapons on-board, flying toward the ship. Once they flew through the force-field into Haggar’s study, they all bailed out of the ship and blew it up as they jumped into battle. “For the Coalition!” Sanda yelled, emptying blaster-fire into several around her, deactivating the Komar. The Blades joined the battle too, even giving Shiro a more simple lunar steel blade which he used happily, slashing through everyone in his way all the way up to Haggar who simply disappeared… before one of the druids he missed blasted Shiro’s right arm, damaging it badly. Antok himself fell as well, but Marmora quickly got vengeance by slaying the Druid who killed him before they were forced to evacuate as the Komar crystals were quickly blown up by the bombs Kolivan placed.

Outside, the duel was still going swimmingly as the Knights clashed with the Robeast. “Now is my time to reclaim the Black Lion!” Zarkon growled. “None of you can stop me!”

Keith groaned, almost losing his composure from the headache. “Zarkon’s trying to take my Lion! I can feel him in my head!”

“End it, Keith! The old-fashioned way!” Sven yelled, tossing off his helmet and grabbing a hard-light hologram of the Blazing Sword that formed for him. “I can help drive! Just go!”

Keith knew what he was suggesting, and it seemed completely insane. But he knew Sven was stubborn as a mule, so he quickly remanded control of Voltron to him as he bailed out, using his suit’s grav-boots to attach himself to a lower docking pylon on the ship.

“Hey, Zarkon! I know your suit has an AI-backup!” he yelled over the Link. “You want my Lion, how about you turn it on and come get me down here?! Kill me and the Lion is yours! One-on-one, no tricks!”

Zarkon growled, wishing his Galran code of honor could allow him to refuse, but it didn’t so he activated the AI and bailed out, meeting Keith on the pylon with grav-boots of his own and drawing his sword to meet Keith’s. “A duel to the death it is then.”

“‘One shall stand, One shall fall’.” Keith always liked that line from _Transformers_ , and it didn’t hold any more weight than it did here. With that, he charged the dark emperor as the Guardians charged the Robeast above, all clashing with epic roars of dedication. But then, they were all knocked away before Zarkon and the Robeast each launched wrist-mounted chain-blades at their adversaries, shocking them with powerful electric currents and causing the Knights to separate.

“You should’ve fled like your predecessors,” Zarkon smirked at Keith.

Unfortunately, this gave Keith a good opportunity to get some ribbing in. “You mean… I should’ve run like _you_?” Zarkon was confused, but Keith just chuckled as he got up. “When you _ran_ from your duty as a Paladin? When you _ran_ from the pleas of help from the universe?”

“Silence!” Zarkon yelled as he punched Keith hard enough to crack his helmet’s visor, causing him to vent atmosphere. “Now the time of the Voltron Paladins is finished.”

“The originals, maybe,” Keith growled, remembering everything that had happened to him since he was a child; registration for the Garrison, meeting his cadet-squadron, meeting Allura, finding Voltron and everything that happened after that. “But my team’s time in the sun is just beginning. And we’re not giving it up.” Suddenly, his eyes flashed yellow along with those of all the Lions which were drawn together back into Voltron in less than a second, though now the great Defender was sporting two massive red wings sprouting plasma-blades that looked like feathers, with Keith sporting a pair on his back as well.

“Impossible.” Zarkon was in awe, even of his adversary. Though this awe swiftly turned to terror as when Keith opened his mouth to yell at the tyrant, it sounded more like a lion’s roar… one which Voltron echoed. “He’s engaged the Warp Wings _and_ mastered Full Synchronization?”

Everyone in the Guardians themselves was amazed at what Keith was doing, but then Pidge checked her timer. “Keith, we’ve only got seven minutes before power returns to Zarkon’s ship. Whatever you’re doing down there, do it fast!” Keith quickly charged at Zarkon with his rocket pack, sending Voltron careening into the Robeast, letting the warrior slash and bash to its core’s content as all those aboard were left wholly amazed.

Finally, the com-lines opened to the pilots. “ _Guardian Force, come in! Do you copy?_ ”

“Dad! Yes, we’re here!” Pidge smiled.

“ _Oh thank goodness. What’s happening out there?_ ”

“Well, Keith and Zarkon are dueling on Lower Pylon 3 of the ship and somehow Keith is controlling Voltron from down there,” Lance explained simply. “Anyway, are you guys okay?”

“ _Yeah, I’m fine! Don’t worry guys._ ”

“Oh great. Slav survived.” Sven groaned… though this suddenly devolved into pained grunting as strange bolts of light started shooting up from his Control Circle and hitting him. “Uh, guys? What’s going on?”

Voltron suddenly growled in Lance’s head and his eyes popped. “Dios Mio. This power Keith’s using… it was never meant to be used with the pilots in the control area! We have to get out of here!” Quickly he ran off of his circle, followed swiftly by the others just before the circles erupted in energy which shot out of the chestplate as some sort of blast, knocking the Robeast (as well as Zarkon since Keith sprouted a similar one somehow) back… unfortunately catching Sven and seemingly disintegrating his legs. “Sven!” Lance quickly ran back and grabbed him off the floor to carry to the pod, but he knew his friend wouldn’t last long.

Outside, power had unfortunately returned to the main ship and all other systems were coming back online, including the fighters outside. “We’ve gotta get outta here! All ships, fall back to the nearest StarBase for immediate repairs!” Coran ordered as the pod boarded.

“ _Wait! You have to take Sven with you! He needs a medic!_ ” This statement from Lance terrified Romelle as the White Lion-Speeder was swiftly deployed from Voltron to the fleet. Jeff quickly picked it up as V-15’s components fell back to the _Explorer_.

Outside, Keith and Zarkon were still dueling, the emperor using his metallic cloak as some sort of shield like the Robeast’s wings. Finally, Keith growled and charged with a powerful stab as a last resort… which just barely made it, as did Voltron’s stab on the Robeast.

Zarkon coughed up black blood before growling and slamming both his hands on the sides of Keith’s head, warming up palm-blasters on his gauntlets as the Robeast did the same for Voltron. Keith growled from the pain of the energy-bolts coursing into his body but then his sword ignited, as did Voltron’s, allowing them both to twist their blades and send them up in powerful slashes, rending the left arm from their opponents’ bodies.

Zarkon screamed as he felt the cosmic fire burning into his body before he flew off the pylon from the momentum and was sent to the upper terrace before the screaming faded and the Robeast exploded. The blast knocked Voltron apart, causing Keith to lose his connection and fall on his face on the pylon.

The other Paladins had already evacuated to their Speeders and were already cheering at their victory when the Admiral came on the line. “ _Save the celebration, soldiers! Fall back to the Castle, we’re leaving!_ ”

“Yes, ma’am.” The Paladins quickly returned to the Lions and started to fly them back until Lance noticed something. “Oh, crap; Keith!” Indeed, that battle had been fought with a cracked visor in the vacuum of space and the Black Lion was hardly responding. “Hunk, tow Black into his hangar. I’m gonna go save our commander!”

“Understood!” The Yellow Lion quickly diverted course and picked the lion up, flying it back to the Castle as Red flew down to the Castle.

“ _Hang on Keith, I’m coming!_ ” That was all Keith could hear from Lance before he blacked out, finally succumbing to the lack of oxygen.

Finally, he slowly woke up groaning, to see an older brown-haired man with glasses examining him. Keith recognized him as the chief science and medical officer of the _Explorer_ , Professor Michael Search Page. “Can you hear me, Kogane?”

“Ugh. Yeah.” Keith could tell from his muffled voice that he was wearing a ventilator. “Ugh. Wha- What happened?”

“You won, Keith.” the lieutenant smiled at the now familiar voice of his mother, standing next to the professor. “Zarkon is dead. By your blade.”

“Awesome.” But then his eyes popped open as he realized something. “Oh my God, that sigil-blast! Did the others make it out okay?!”

“Easy there lieutenant, easy.” Page calmed the officer to lay back down. “You’re still suffering from minor decompression sickness. And in answer to your question… well, _almost_ all of them made it out fine.”

“‘Almost’?” asked Keith, his heartrate accelerating in concern. “Who- Who didn’t?”

Lance walked out from behind a medical curtain next to his CO’s bed with a somber look on his face. “Sven. We lost him just before you came aboard.” Keith was shocked as Lance moved the curtain; Sven _looked_ fine waist-up, but his legs were just… gone. The whole rest of the Guardian Force was there, and even Romelle, crying as she held onto her white knight’s dead hand.

"I tried my best, Keith." Page assured. "But... the radiation from that blast... I'm sorry, but there was nothing I could realistically do." Keith almost refused to believe this was happening: he always saw Sven as this Spartan soldier from _Halo_ ; untouchable, invincible, immortal. He looked around and realized he thought that about his whole team. He was wrong; they were children.

Days later, on Korrinoth, the flagship/palace, as it was designed, had been returned to its place in the capital city to reveal that somehow Zarkon had survived and was laying in a medical bed with Haggar watching on as her druids and imperial medics tried to heal the wounds dealt to him by the Black Paladin, but she knew he wouldn’t be able to leave his chamber any time soon. Finally, she left to find Lotor and some of Zarkon’s top officers outside with pensive looks on their faces. There she simply uttered three words which would shake the Coalition if they heard them; “All Hail Lotor.”


	44. Politics

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are: the beginning of the Lotor Arc; 44-52.

It had been three weeks since what would come to be known as the Battle of Eridanus, and already victories were racking up in the Coalition’s war against the Galra Empire, along with plenty of recently liberated planets wishing for admission. Keith had just arrived at Allura’s chambers on the Castle of Lions to find the princess herself behind a low room divider (clearly naked, judging by the silhouette in the somewhat translucent divider), sniffing a dress she had on a rack next to her. “Uh…?”

Allura blushed a bit as she noticed her commanding officer and let the dress slip from her hands. “I’m… just worried it smells a bit musty. Honestly, I haven’t had to look presentable since I first applied for Starfleet.”

Keith chuckled. “Yeah, I hear that. The suit I wore to _my_ application is probably getting eaten by moths at my cabin.” He walked over to the bed and placed a few small boxes on it, doing his best to resist the temptation to look behind the screen at the princess’s naked form. “But don't worry, the Cubserions just declared independence after 70 years of oppression, so they probably won’t notice.”

Allura scoffed as she looked at her dress. “Then why am I getting all puffed up like a Trufalian meringue?”

Keith snickered a bit at that; he’d _had_ Trufalian meringue before and he could agree that it was ridiculously puffy. “Search me, but yeah; there’s no real need for that,” he smirked as he walked to the other side of the screen. “Not when our new uniforms just arrived.”

Allura smiled at this and quickly opened the box on top, clearly ordered by Keith so that it was her dress uniform with purple trim; the color of Starfleet’s Diplomatic Corps. Then she saw her rank. “Lieutenant Junior Grade? Does that mean we’re the same rank now?”

“Nope. Sorry, but after Eridanus, I got promoted to Lieutenant Commander.” Keith smiled, tapping his pips. “You good for Diplomatic Corps? You’ll be the representing branch-head at the meeting.”

Allura was a bit concerned about that part but took a deep breath as she started putting on her uniform. “I’ll be fine. I sat in on my father’s diplomatic meetings several times.” Her voice dropped at that: Coran had told her what happened to her parents’ AI, and she was still having trouble accepting that they were gone.

“Well, just remember Lisa’s numbers for this sort of thing; 70% of diplomacy is appearance.” Keith smiled, taking her mind off that sort of thing. “Then another 29% for manners, decorum, formalities, and chit-chat, and really only 1%, um… uh…”

“Serious business about fighting for the freedom of the universe?” suggested Allura.

Keith shrugged. “Well in this case, yes. Oop wait, she forgot hor d’oeurves. Woof, well if I’m going by Hunk’s math, that’s at least _3_ %, so I’m gonna have to tell Lisa to redo her calculations.”

Allura chuckled as she pulled her suit jacket on. “Getting back to the topic at hand Keith, we just got these planets liberated. Do you really think they’re ready to come together to fight the Galra?”

Keith chuckled. “The Sons of Liberty asked the early Americans that same question on December 16th, 1773 about the British.” Allura raised an eyebrow as if asking what he meant by that. “It wasn’t a question of _wanting_ to fight back, but more a question of whether or not they had faith that it was possible. It was up to people like Sam Adams to give _them_ that faith when he orchestrated the whole Boston Tea Party. Now it’s our turn to follow in his tracks.”

Allura chuckled. “Well, us and Voltron.”

Keith shrugged. “Eh, ‘we can’t always put the fate of the world in the hands of a giant weapon’. That’s what my grandpa used to say. Course, he was at the Pentagon during Earth’s Cold War, so you can understand where he was coming from with that.”

Allura smiled. “I suppose.” With that and one last belt-click, she dropped her changing screen into the floor to show her in her full uniform. “How do I look?”

Keith blushed a small bit and smiled. “Great. Cmon, let’s go. We’re probably almost at Jupiter.”

Meanwhile, lightyears away on planet Puig, the Red and Yellow Lions were assisting the forces of the _GCS Odyssey_ with liberating the planet from the Galra… which constituted clearing a path to a drop-zone for Starfleet Marines and Blades. “I’d say we’re about 30 seconds to drop,” Lance smirked, blasting down a few fighters. “You ready back there, Kolivan?”

“Affirmative.”

“How about your guys, Mendez?”

“ _Just get us in there, Lieutenant._ ” the staff sergeant replied over the coms. “ _We’ll take care of the rest,_ ” Lance smirked; it was nice knowing that he was a Junior Lieutenant now too, as the whole Guardian Force had received a promotion after Eridanus, even with the non-coms on the _Explorer_ receiving commissions and ranks to go with them.

Suddenly Hunk took a large blast to the faceplate on his Lion. “That may prove difficult. We’re taking flack. Taking evasive actions.” Hunk saw several turrets on the ground, firing on them without too much worry to allow the _Odyssey_ through to a ruined settlement, with all the ships followed by a fleet of fighters too big for the small _Excelsior_ -class scout ship to handle. “Uh-oh. Uh Lance, we just passed the drop zone.”

“There’s too much flack! We’ll never be able to stop here. Any ideas, Mendez?”

“ _Open your hatches._ ” the sergeant replied, racking a shotgun. “ _We’ll take it from here._ ” Lance liked that plan as both Lions opened up their lower bays to allow the Blades out.

“Go-go-go-go-go!” Kolivan’s orders were swiftly followed as the Blades jumped overboard and started running toward the city, followed swiftly by several rovers full of Marines from the scout-ship, all of whom started fighting the sentries still in town… until one of the Marines noticed something on the underside of the overhanging cliff. Something big and glowing.

“Enemy artillery!” she yelled and dove for cover with the others before the large turret started firing. The ships were slowly starting to deal with the fighters plaguing them but it was still slow-going, especially since one was still on Lance’s tail no matter what.

“Oh, we got a hot-shot here, huh? Alright pal, can you handle _this_?!” Then without much warning, Lance sent Red straight into a nose-dive toward the surface away from town with the fighter still following him. Then at the last possible second, Lance pulled up and sent Red flying across the surface as the fighter crashed into the ground. “Didn’t think so.” Then he noticed something following the _Odyssey_. “Captain Wu, you got five right on your six!”

“ _I’m aware Lieutenant. And we’re about to teach em a lesson about tailgating._ ” With that, the ship cut its forward thrusters and allowed all the fighters to slam right into the shields with whatever shrapnel made it through bouncing off the ship’s ablative armor.

“Whoo! Nice one Captain!” Lance smirked, before answering a hail from the ground. “What’s goin’ on Kolivan?”

“ _The Galra have us pinned down with heavy artillery! Requesting air-support!_ ”

“Copy; inbound hot.” Lance quickly took Red around to try and blast out the turret, but it shot him almost out of the sky. “Grr! I can’t get a clear shot!”

“Hang on, I got this!” Hunk smiled as he took Yellow high above the cliff. “Always wanted to do this. Form Claw Booster!” Once Yellow’s special weapon formed, Hunk sent it into a spinning nose-dive and drilled straight through the cliff and turret, sending the rubble down on the sentries as the Blades and Marines had quickly evacuated the town of its residents when the Lions approached. Once that was done, the rest of the Galra ships quickly retreated with a few officers being captured by the Marines and held as prisoners of war.

Not long after they were shipped out on the next prison-frigate, the liberators and natives enjoyed a well-earned celebration… with Lance taking selfies with teenage Puigian girls, because obviously. “Now this is the sort of work a soldier could get used to.”

And Hunk sampling some of the local cuisine as brought over by some older folk. “Whoo-wee! You got that right.” Then his eyes met on what looked like a Puigian lobster… “Oh, methinks I’ll have this one with all the legs.” … which quickly jumped to defend itself. “Nope! Still alive.” Naturally, the other Puigians were in awe of the Lions and the _Odyssey_ as they had been the tools of their liberation… if they discounted the Blades… which they did… severely.

Finally, one middle-aged Puigian man with a scepter of sorts walked forward. “Galactic Coalition, thank you for saving my people from the hands of the Galra. I am Assembly Speaker Ramos Kurn, leader of my people.”

“Nice to meet you, Speaker. I’m Lance, this is Hunk.” the Red Paladin smiled, still hangin’ with the ladies. “What can we do for ya?”

“I wish to pledge to you that every able-bodied person on this planet will join Starfleet in the war against the Galra.”

“Glad to have ‘em on board.” Mendez smiled. “I just hope they can keep up; I’m the drill sergeant at the Garrison on Earth and I take that job way too seriously.”

Ramos chuckled before he returned to another point. “I have heard from your men that your Coalition is having an Assembly of its own to discuss entrance into your nation and the exchange of envoys.” Hunk mulled over what Ramos said, and it sounded about right.

“Eh more or less. Why, do you have an ambassador in mind?”

“It would be my family’s honor if my daughter Neilis would carry that title.” With that, another young girl around Lance’s age approached, far more beautiful than most of the others he was hanging with… whom he promptly ditched.

“And it would be _our_ honor to escort her to Jupiter Station for the meeting,” he smirked, getting his flirt on.

“Y’know, based on our recent victories, it kinda seems like the Galra Empire is just fallin’ apart at the seams.” Hunk shrugged to Kolivan.

“More than that, Hunk.” he nodded, and pointed to a carving depicting Voltron itself. “Word of the Battle of Eridanus and the Guardians' triumph thereat is spreading like wildfire across the universe.”

“Man, and to think that if we hadn’t been chosen by Voltron and stolen that ship, none of this would’ve happened.” Hunk smirked.

“That would not stand,” Kolivan affirmed. “The universe _needs_ its Defenders.”

“Well, if we’re all set, we can leave for Jupiter ASAP and meet up with the others,” Lance smirked; arm wrapped around Neilis’ neck.

The Castle of Lions was still en route to Jupiter as well, giving Pidge and her dad time to help Keith (who had himself changed into _his_ dress uniform) brush up on court-martial proceedings, as Admiral Sanda had asked him to prosecute against General Wegener in Berlin. And it was very boring. “Man, wouldn’t it have just been easier for me to watch _A Few Good Men_?”

“Sure, if you wanted to be ejected from the courtroom for not following the real rules,” Sam smirked; he always liked that movie, even though it was not at all like real life. “No-no-no, we need to get you working on the real facts of a court-martial.”

“Ugh! Alright fine, just- look I only took, like, _one_ military justice class at the Garrison and I don’t think my skill as the _defense-attorney_ in the mock-trial we had will help me with _prosecuting_ against a Marine Corps general.”

Suddenly Shiro’s voice came in on the ship’s P.A. “ _Attention all hands; Lance and Hunk have returned and are requesting quarters for a guest. Prepare to receive._ ” The officers all quickly got up and moved to the observation lounge to meet up with the others.

“They haven’t completely gotten their whole flatbread situation figured out yet, but what they do with those centipede-lookin’ things is just in _sane_!” Lance smirked; of _course,_ that was what Hunk was focusing on.

“And they’re totally ready to join the war. _Odyssey_ ’s even headed back to San Diego with a few candidates to join Starfleet.”

“Great. I’ll message Colleen and have her and the others prepare to receive them at the harbor.” Sam moved to the com-panel and quickly proceeded to do so.

“We even brought back an ambassadorial candidate to join the others in the meeting with Allura and President Archer.” Hunk smiled.

“That’s splendid. Excellent work.” Allura smiled.

Lance just kicked back as he looked through the selfies he took on Puig. “Y’know, I gotta say, _this_ is what it’s all about; freein’ the people, lovin’ the ladies, then bombin’ down the hyperspace-lanes again lookin’ for adventure, Voltron-style. Kinda reminds me of my upbringin’ on my parents’ old freighter.”

This unfortunately made Hunk’s face fall. “Which brings up a little… personal issue; things aren’t really ‘Voltron-style’ anymore, are they?” This confused the others for a second… “I mean… without Sven…” …Until that reminded them. The now-former Cadet Squadron 686 of the Galaxy Garrison had been down their chief Marine for three weeks, with their old friend Sven Holgersson being sealed in a coffin and sent to fly amongst the stars.

Lance glanced over to Allura, knowing he shouldn’t ask this, but he may as well. “How’s Romelle doing?”

“Still on leave on Pollux. She said she couldn’t stand to be in the stars again, not after what happened to him.” Allura answered.

“Can’t say I blame her.” Keith shrugged. “After my dad died, I rarely left my room in the barracks at the Garrison.”

“Yeah, but you got past _that_.” Lance nodded at his best friend. “You don’t just move past your partner dying in a ship’s med-bay.” Keith couldn’t argue with that, and he knew it.

Across the universe, Haggar was still trying to use her magic to resurrect the great Zarkon, but nothing she tried worked so she simply left his chamber to speak with her druid. “The Emperor is to be allowed no visitors except for me. Is that clear?”

“As you wish, High Priestess.” With that, the druid disappeared which unfortunately allowed for a bearded Galra wearing noble garb.

“Excuse the interruption, High Priestess.” the noble smiled.

“What do you want now, Viceroy Throk?” Haggar had clearly dealt with him before.

“I simply wished to know if I could speak with the Emperor this day.” the viceroy shrugged. “Another planet was lost to the Coalition and I feel he must be informed.”

Haggar narrowed her eyes. “Zarkon is already fully briefed on all imperial matters. And he certainly doesn’t need the input of you _or_ Chancellor Mozak.”

Throk cringed at that; he didn’t like being reminded of his political rival from the Imperial Council. “Of course, Haggar. I simply fear that if we do not take decisive action soon, the empire may crumble completely. Any and all rebellious activity must be crushed under the foot of our full might before more star-systems are inspired to rise against us.”

“Prince Lotor shall take command of the Empire as per Emperor Zarkon’s request.” Haggar was lying of course, but damned if she wasn’t good at it. “Under the emperor’s guidance, of course.”

Throk growled a small bit. “Of course.” He didn’t like the idea of that half-breed trash taking command of the Empire. “But I must ask; why is the prince not at his father’s bedside?”

“Zarkon needs _no one_ at his bedside. Least of all you, Viceroy.” Haggar hissed. “Besides, the relationship the prince has with his father is a bit… how do the humans say it? ‘Toxic’?”

Throk nodded in understanding as the witch walked away. “I see.” With that, he left… not knowing that another half-breed was watching from the shadows, intrigued by what she was hearing. Her boss was gonna love this.


	45. The Plans

“And thar she blows; Jupiter, the fifth planet in the system, not to mention the biggest. Coalition astronomers based their classification system for gas giants on planets like this, and named this exact class as a J.” Lance never thought there would come a day where he was happy he took that stellar cartography class, but that day had finally come as he was showing the awestruck Neilis the layout of the Sol System as they approached Jupiter Station…

Though the station’s name was a bit of a misnomer as the station itself was a government office-hall on the planet’s second moon; Europa, outside the city of New Vienna. Several officers in Starfleet, as well as several Coalition politicians, have petitioned to change the name of the station to something else over the years since the moon was terraformed, with ideas for new names ranging from “Europa Station” to “Minos Office”, but as of yet, the name had yet to be changed to anything… at least not permanently. It _was_ called the Edelweiss Office once five years ago, but that didn’t exactly click with everyone so they changed it back.

“Incredible. I’ve never been this close to a gas planet before.” Neilis was understandably in awe, even if the Puigians were such great starfarers as the crew of the castle had heard. “Oh! What is that?”

Lance smirked; he knew exactly what she was pointing at. “That’s the famous Great Red Spot. It’s basically just a massive storm that’s been raging for the last few thousand centuries. It’s actually a pretty huge tourist attraction these days, but that’s beside the point.” With that, he directed the visitor’s eyes to the large moon off the bow of the castle. “Welcome to Europa.”

“Europa Air Control, this is the Castle of Lions. Commodore Takashi Shirogane requesting permission to land.” Shiro smiled as he said this; he still hadn’t gotten over the new single-pip badge he’d gained on his uniform’s lapel after Eridanus… and he certainly hadn’t let Admiral Sanda forget that he had totally called his getting it.

“ _Roger, Castle of Lions; please maintain your course._ ” Shiro was pleasantly surprised by the voice on the coms from the control tower. “ _Damn good to see you again Shiro._ ”

“Rin? Man, I haven’t heard from you since the Garrison. So this is what a tactical department uniform gets you, huh?” Rin Hyodou was a childhood friend of Shiro’s from Japan who had been in the same class as him at the Galaxy Garrison.

“ _Yeah, I know I’m really nothing more than a glorified traffic warden, but hey; a girl’s gotta do something to keep the home-fires burnin’._ ” Shiro could tell Rin was smiling as he brought the ship into the landing bay at the lunar port. “ _But we can catch up next time you’re here. Meantime, the President is eagerly awaiting her guests for the meeting._ ”

“Copy that. Disengaging engines.” Once he did, the ship was brought in for a simple landing on the indicated pad. With that, he and all the others aboard, who had now changed into their dress uniforms, simply disembarked the Castle and took the Europan high-speed train to the compound early, which gave them time to prepare until a few minutes later when four other alien representatives entered the meeting hall, followed shortly by Admiral Sanda arrived with five fellow admirals, a new Marine Corps general and a human woman in a suit.

“President Archer.” Shiro saluted as indeed; this woman was Bethany Archer, President of the Sol System and co-leader of the Galactic Coalition, alongside the monarch of the Altean Throne.

“Commodore.” she saluted back before turning to the new representative. “Ambassador. Welcome to Europa. It’s the Coalition’s great honor to have you all here together.”

“As it is my honor to be here, Madam President.” Neilis marveled, looking around. “My family had the biggest bunker back on Puig, but it wasn’t anywhere _near_ this nice.”

“Well, I personally spent the last ten years sleeping in a spiny thistle thicket.” the Cubserion representative agreed, his voice gurgling with the standard accent of his people. “You look lovely though, ma’am. I’m glad I put on my best tarp.”

Archer smiled. “Thanks, Ambassador. But this really isn’t anything special.”

Suddenly Hunk slipped out with a few hover-trays of snacks. “Welcome everyone, welcome. I’ve prepared a few human delicacies for our distinguished guests to enjoy as we discuss intergalactic diplomacy.” Keith glanced to his side as he quickly saw Lisa redoing the math he had informed Allura of earlier to accommodate Hunk’s initiative… which made him smirk.

“Thank you, Lieutenant Garret.” Admiral Sanda nodded. “Now then, Admiral Blackwell, Marmora, how about you get started with the briefing?”

“With pleasure, Ellen.” the gray-suited Admiral said simply, standing up with the grandmaster. “Now, thanks to the Order of the Blade, we’ve managed to gather this intelligence.” She then plugged a drive into the holo-computer in the table, bringing up a map of the universe.

“As you can see, the Galra Empire is still the single largest ruling force the universe has ever seen.” Marmora picked up, sounding grim. “Its sheer size is nearly incomprehensible. It seems as though it may last another ten thousand years after this one.”

Lance could see that the Meloran representative was already shaking in his chair at this news as he leaned over to Pidge. “Not exactly the way _I_ would’ve started this meeting, but I _guess_ it works.”

“However, Starfleet Intelligence has recently started detecting signs of increased rebel activity in these key sectors within the empire.” Blackwell quickly highlighted the systems in question with the computer on his seat, surprising the new representatives.

Allura stood up at this, a serious look on her face. “The Coalition plans to bring these forces together, free more planets, grow the numbers of Starfleet and the newly formed Galactic Militia, and build an army that can defeat the Galra in major battles without much in the way of assistance from the Guardians of the Universe.” With that, Blackwell deactivated the hologram and allowed the Princess to address the representatives. “But without the aid and support of your peoples, it will be thoroughly impossible.”

“The forces _will_ all fight behind Voltron and V-15, right?” the Kressite ambassador asked, voice beeping with the vocal processor their people found necessary to communicate with the other species present.

“Specifically speaking, yes.” President Archer shrugged. “However, until Princess Allura here ascends to the Altean Throne, I’m the commander-in-chief of all Coalition military operations. And either way, the Order of the Blade’s soldiers are strong and efficient military leaders who will be glad to lead you.” Marmora nodded to agree.

“You’ll forgive us if we don’t leap at that, Madam President.” the Kressite scowled. “Our species have all been enslaved for decades by soldiers who look exactly like her.”

“Agreed.” Neilis stood. “Our people have heard the legend of the Guardians, how _they_ defeated Zarkon. That is what gave them hope. What gave my father hope. What should I tell him now; that our people are to take orders from Galra again?”

“Depends,” Keith smirked, sliding his Blade along the table to show the ambassadors. “Will your peoples take orders from _me_?”

Lance smirked; he and Keith had both been expecting some anti-Galra ideals from the representatives, but they knew this would easily shut them up. “You raise an excellent point, Paladin Keith.” the Kressite ambassador nodded, sitting back down. “We will accept the Coalition’s invitation to join.”

“Alright then.” President Archer smiled as she brought up a holographic treaty and allowed a soldier to hand out pens. “Just sign on the dotted line and have your government’s leaders do the same, and all I can really say is ‘Welcome to the Galactic Coalition’.”

Across the universe, the coliseum on Korrinoth was roaring as they watched a young soldier in an opaque helmet duel a large Zilo. Though Viceroy Throk was more focused on the state of imperial affairs than the bloodshed below as he sat with an officer with bladed cyborg fingers. “How did it go, Viceroy?”

“Not well, Hazar. Not well.” Throk always respected his guard-captain, despite him being the son of Throk’s political adversary Mozak and sister to Dorma; now known rebel against the empire. “I tried to speak to the emperor, but the witch stopped me again.”

“I fear Zarkon’s condition may be worse than she is telling anyone.” Hazar nodded. “My father and I have doubts he will ever return to the throne.”

“For once then, your father and I are agreed.” Throk nodded, stroking his small beard. “And now Prince Lotor is taking over? It’s disgusting. Our families have been by Zarkon’s side since the war began, and now we’re passed over by this half-breed brat?”

Hazar nodded. “I’ve heard rumors that he fights on planet surfaces alongside his enlisted men like a lowly private.”

“Worse than that, not even his top generals are pure Galra.” Throk scoffed. “They’re just as dishonorable as he himself.”

“I’ve heard he allows the planets his forces conquer to continue ruling themselves.” Hazar scoffed. “Can you imagine that?”

“Unfortunately yes,” Throk growled. “Clearly the man’s a dangerous buffoon. I’ve already spoken to some of the viceroys in our neighboring sectors, and they’ve all agreed to back me if I challenge the whelp for the throne.” This surprised Hazar beyond words. “Under normal circumstances, I would never think of such a thing, but… well…”

The commander easily understood what his master was getting at. “What choice do we have?”

“Then your House will support me, Hazar?”

Hazar shook his head. “My father would never, but luckily for you, I am not my father.”

Throk smirked. “Good.”

With that, the two returned their attention to the arena and the fighter drew Hazar’s attention. “Who is this sprightly little fellow?”

“No idea; I’ve never seen him before.” Throk shrugged, though he would soon be eating his words because not long after the Zilo fell, blood gushing from its sword-wound, the young warrior opened the visor and back of his bladed helmet to reveal himself to be someone that shocked Throk to his core. “Lotor?!” And indeed it was the prince, letting his hair flow from the back of his helmet before he pointed his broadsword at the viceroy.

“Throk! You wish to challenge me?” He smirked as he asked this. “Then, by all means, come down and claim your throne.” Other officers and nobles around him gave surprised and disgusted sounds as they heard this as the viceroy simply looked around for anyone who could’ve told the prince of his plan. And he found four; Acxa, Ezor, Zethrid and another half-breed general without eyes… who had a familiar space-cat on her shoulders. “You must’ve been on the Drule homeworld too long, Viceroy. Or have you simply forgotten the way of our people? True Galra do not claim the imperial throne by stirring insurrection in darkened chambers. They rise to it through honorable rite of combat. Thus I offer a wager; slay me here and the throne is yours. Lay in the dirt before _my_ blade, and you will bow to me.”

The other spectators cheered and bellowed to goad the viceroy into doing it until he finally stood up and said simply “I gladly accept your challenge.” This made the crowd go insane. “Now all will see who is the rightful ruler.”

Lotor smiled as the viceroy made his way to the arena. “Yes. Indeed they will.”

Soon enough, the two were in the arena together with blades drawn. “You know Lotor, before I was named Viceroy to the Drule, I had led thousands of campaigns on countless worlds and left many enemies much more fearsome than you bleeding and wasting on the battlefield. And I have not forgotten my training.”

With that, he charged the prince where the two clashed blades for a solid few seconds until Throk got in one good hit and cut about an inch off Lotor’s hair. “Your technique is flawless Viceroy, that much I grant you,” he smirked. “Still, even one as stubborn as you must realize at some point that your predictable attacks are getting you nowhere fast.”

Throk just growled and charged again. “How’s this for predictable?!” Lotor swiftly clashed with him again, blades ringing and sparking until Lotor got in a powerful hook into his enemy’s side before one final slash finished things… by splitting the viceroy’s blade clean in half, the force of which sent Throk into the dirt below him before Lotor aimed the tip of his blade at his face.

“Your tactics are gravely stale, Viceroy,” Lotor smirked. “And in the end, your own aggression is your undoing.”

Throk simply lay down and raised his chin for a clear shot at his neck. “Well, go on then. Finish it.”

The prince didn’t need to, as he heard the masses chanting his name even from the pit, so he lowered his blade and looked up to the crowd. “My father Zarkon built the Galra Empire on the bones of his enemies!” he bellowed. “But I believe the time has come to change the old ways, and inspire not fear from those we reign over, but loyalty. The Empire cannot waste its energy fighting to keep its subjects down, but rather boost it exponentially by allowing those worthy and like-minded to rise and join our ranks!” With that, he offered a hand to Throk, who seemed genuinely surprised. “The universe can no longer doubt the strength of the Galra. Each ally gained only makes our empire stronger, while those who continue to stand in our way will be crushed like an autumn leaf underfoot.”

Throk liked this ideal and took Lotor’s hand, allowing his prince to pull him off the ground. “Exalted Prince Lotor, we pledge our loyalty to you. Vrepit Sa.” With that, he saluted followed by Lotor’s generals and all others in the grand chamber. Hazar relented for a moment but he eventually rolled with it and saluted as well, honoring the prince before the masses started chanting his name again.

Roughly an hour afterward, he walked down to the gladiator’s hallway where his generals were waiting. Zethrid took the prince’s helmet and armor as Ezor handed him a towel. “That went well.” she smiled.

“The masses are easily swayed, Ezor.” Lotor smiled, toweling off the sweat he worked up after that grand display. “Narti, have Throk’s viceroyalty transferred out to the Ulippa system immediately. Let him and his followers rot with the ice-worms.” The blind general nodded before she simply walked away…

…Right past a pink-haired female Galra with an Altarian serpent-vulture on her shoulder, giving a condescending clap. “An excellent speech, Prince Lotor. I hope you bring that same power to government.”

Lotor rolled his eyes at this woman. “Duchess Merla. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe your part of the empire has been classified as ‘defunct’.”

“I was hoping the heir to the imperial throne might change that when I give him this news.” Merla smiled. “That blast the Black Paladin made Voltron use to attack your father’s Robeast? It killed the _White_ Paladin, one of their greatest friends. Their morale is low; now is the perfect time to strike. After all, the people would love to know you as the emperor who permanently ended the threat of Voltron and gave the Empire a foothold in the Coalition when your father could not.”

Lotor smiled. “Excellent news indeed, Duchess. I will have your territory and fleets returned to you.” With that, the prince moved on with his generals following him. “Acxa, have the fleet prepare to depart for Coalition space. I wish to examine the enemy when they are at their weakest; see how well they respond to a… trial-by-fire.”

“Vrepit Sa.” The Paladins had no idea what they were in for.


	46. Tides

The rest of the meeting and reception with the ambassadors went by fairly uneventfully and even got a bit boring for the Paladins, causing them to leave the station. “Alright, so what do we do now?”

Pidge shrugged at Lance’s question and checked her wrist-com’s schedule. “Well, the Guardian Force isn’t needed back on the front until after Wegener’s court-martial tomorrow, so I guess we’ve got some free time.”

“Great. So what do we do with it?” Lance shrugged.

Hunk smiled as he looked up to the sky, easily able to pick out Earth even in daylight on Europa. “Well… if we get on the next shuttle, we can be in the Caribbean in under ten minutes.”

And indeed, the oceanic biosphere of Earth was vastly different from before the Coalition was founded, making it just as beautiful and clean as it was before humans had ruined the oceans with their industry and garbage, now a remarkable sight across the galaxy… not to mention all the epic “fun in the sun” potential. Lance smirked at this knowledge and began loosening his uniform’s tie in understanding. “Caribbean beach party?”

“Caribbean beach party.”

“Bitchin’. Let’s take Red; he’s faster. Hunk brings the food; I bring the booze.”

“And I bring the adult supervision _for_ the booze.” Lance was naturally frightened by the sound of Shiro’s voice behind him, as teenage Starfleet officers talking about alcohol within earshot of an adult Commodore wouldn’t exactly look great on their service records, which is why Shannon got a reprimand for that drunken food-fight he started at the _Explorer_ ’s launch party.

“Wait a sec, you wanna come with us?” Keith’s question was fair, though not exactly wanted by any of the others.

“You kidding? Of course, I do. We’ll call it shore-leave. After all, none of us have actually been _back_ to Earth since this whole charade began; I’m sure Ellen will understand.” He was right; it had been four months since the Paladins had first stolen that shuttle to take them to Arus and they hadn’t been back to Earth in that entire time.

“Man. Kinda puts things into perspective, doesn’t it?” Lance said thoughtfully.

“Seriously.” Keith agreed.

“Well, what’re we waiting for? Let’s get back to the castle and pack some swim-bags.” Hunk laughed, quickly followed by all the others. It didn’t take too long for the crew to get changed, packed and make it back to Earth since, as Lance had said, the Red Lion was far faster than the usual shuttle service to Earth and more direct as it took them straight to what was, according to Hunk, the best place on Earth for a private beach party; Pointe Quest on Tortuga.

Hunk had even brought a boombox to play music to make it really feel like the crew was on some sort of vacation. “Alright y’all, let’s party!”

“Uh, might wanna hold off on that for a second, big guy,” Pidge noted. “Looks like someone had the same idea as us.” And indeed, a _Danube­_ -class runabout apparently named the _Shenandoah_ had just arrived and moved to touch down not far from where Lance had parked Red. And who should clamber abaft but the other chapter of the Guardian Force, all wearing their own casual clothes and carrying similar bags to the others.

“Jeff?” Keith was rightly surprised to see his counterpart from the _Explorer_ in Tortuga. “What’re you guys doing here? I thought you were back out in the black, looking for planets to colonize.”

“Ah, we’ve been doing that for five months, Keith. Captain Newley agreed that after that much time, we’re owed a little shore-leave,” Jeff argued. “Plus well, you got here first so you guys are proof enough that war can be draining.”

Lance chuckled as he walked over. “Can’t argue with that. So, you guys want in?”

“Hell yeah, we do.” Wolo smiled, clapping hands with his old friend.

“Well then, let’s set up some rules,” Shiro said commandingly. “First off; anybody here gets drunk and does something crazy, they’re on report. Lookin’ at you Shannon.” The Irishman rolled his eyes as he knew it was obvious why but still didn’t like the racial profiling. “Second; the Red Lion’s cargo hold is the men’s changing area, the _Shenandoah_ is the women’s. Third; any lewd behavior is _also_ on report.” It was clear from his glare and that of the others that he was directing that at Lance.

Which confused him for a second. “Why are you all looking at me?”

Cinda rolled her eyes as she looked at him. “Does my arrival at the Garrison ring any bells?”

Lance groaned; he remembered that painfully well. How he tried to hit on Cinda as soon as she and Krik had arrived at the Garrison with the other Luxian refugees. “Alright fine, I’ll keep it in my pants. Just don’t expect it to be subtle while it’s there.”

Now it was Shiro’s turn to roll his eyes as he got back to it. “And fourth;” He smirked as he said this. “Aside from those I listed, there are _no rules_!”

“Whoo!” Hunk whooped it up as he slammed his boombox down and turned on a disc labeled as _Soca Party Mix_. “Let’s get this party started right!”

The crew couldn’t argue with that as they all quickly changed and got into it. The _Explorer_ crew was all wearing Starfleet standard swimsuits from basic training and the others all had their own things, all color-coded to their Lions; Keith and Hunk kept it simple with men’s trunks, Pidge had a women’s one-piece while Allura was wearing an admittedly very attractive bikini, and Lance… well, there’s no nice way to say this; he had a tight Speedo, and his friend under it was _loving_ the display the girls were putting on in their volleyball game.

Naturally, Shiro (wearing a black wetsuit with a Starfleet insignia on his chest which he’d cut the sleeves off of) found this irritating and kicked sand on his chest to draw his attention elsewhere. “Alright Lieutenant, in the water. Let’s see how fast you can swim to that rock and back.”

Lance groaned as he saw the rock Shiro was pointing to. “Alright-alright, fine.” He pulled himself up from his towel on the sand and moved out to the surf where he swiftly started breast-stroking to the rock… though he saw under the surface that Cliff was holding Wolo under the surface; most likely to get payback for what he and Lance had done at the Garrison pool. Finally, he reached the rock and shot himself back, landing on the sand in just a few strong strokes as Cliff and Wolo reemerged from the water. “Time!”

Shiro checked the timer in his newly upgraded bionic forearm and gave an impressed whistle. “Not bad, Lance. You beat your time from the Garrison by three seconds.”

Lance chuckled as he pushed himself back out into the water. “He-hey, how about that?” Suddenly the girls’ volleyball flew over and creamed him in the face, making him cringe in pain. “Ow! Hey, careful!”

“Ooh! Sorry, Lance!” Ginger called.

“Well, _I’m_ sorry too Ginger, because you bounced that out of bounds; match-point goes to Allura and Cinda!” Pidge decreed, making the two alien girls cheer in victory while Ginger and Lisa just groaned in defeat.

With that, Hunk let out a loud whistle near the propane grill he and Rocky had set up near the Red Lion. “Lunchtime, guys!”

Keith shook his head at his chief engineer; he had known Hunk since he took command of Cadet Squadron 686 but he still hadn’t gotten used to the epic Samoan tattoos the guy had. “Alright crew, let’s eat!”

The crew cheered and raced over to gorge themselves on Hunk’s epic cooking, naturally with Lance shooting straight for the barbeque chicken. “Mm! God. Man, how do I always forget how good your cooking is, Hunk?”

“Hey, search me, man,” Keith smirked at his engineer; his home-land accent was slipping through again. “All I know is ya always know good cookin’ when ya taste it.”

Lance chuckled. “Can’t argue with that.” Without much else in the way of fanfare, he tore back into the chicken with reckless abandon.

Allura chuckled at his display; it was easy to understand why the Red Lion chose him. Speaking of which, she suddenly came up with an idea concerning the Lion, which was parked with its head high up over a deep part of the water. She was lucky Alteans had evolved such incredible dexterity or climbing up the smooth-as-glass hull of the Lion would’ve been very difficult.

Once she had made it to the tip of the Lion’s nose, she whistled down to the others. “Whoa! Allura, don’t do anything crazy!” Keith knew that wasn’t gonna do it, but it was just some sort of protective instinct his time in the Command division had apparently instilled in him.

Allura laughed, knowing the same thing. “Too late! Look out below!” With that, she jumped off the Lion and spun in the air before landing head-first in the Caribbean Sea.

Naturally, Keith was still very concerned as he and Lance ran out to the surf… though this gradually faded as he saw something drift up from the depths where she dove. “What the-?”

Lance noticed that tone and his moving to grab it and quickly stopped him by grabbing his wrist. “Ah! Uh-uh, no! No…”

“What?”

Lance just placed his hand on Keith’s shoulder and smirked at him as the item drifted up, revealing itself to be Allura’s top. “That.”

“Oh boy.” And a minute after that, Allura shot up out of the water, breasts free and bouncing. Quickly all the men looked away and blocked their eyes, shouting in embarrassment. Even the Red Lion bunked down and covered its eyes with its forepaws.

“Oh jeez.” Pidge groaned as she waded out to grab Allura’s top from in front of Keith. “Allura, little concern for your privacy, per favore?”

The princess was a bit confused about this until she looked at her top in Pidge’s hand and blushed brighter than the Lion she just dove off of. Quickly, she took the top back and quickly strapped it back on.

Once that was done, Pidge smiled and turned to the beach. “Okay boys, she’s decent!” The collective sigh of relief from the crew was surprisingly loud. Shiro smirked at his battalion, wondering if Newley ever had this sort of drama on the _Explorer_.

It seemed like he might get his answer as his hand-com started beeping loud and fast; an emergency alert beacon. “Commodore Shirogane; go ahead.”

“ _Shiro, we just received an emergency transmission from Aldonia._ ” How ironic; it was Rick. “ _The Galra have attacked the system and Governor Turak called on us for help._ ”

“Understood.” With that, Shiro quickly disengaged his com and whistled to the crew. “Alright people, listen up! Shore-leave is officially over! Get to your ships and let’s get into the black!”

“Why, what’s going on?” Keith’s question was rational as only Shiro had heard the transmission.

“The Galra are attacking Aldonia. They need Voltron and V-15.” That was all the two lieutenant commanders needed to hear.

“Everyone grab your stuff and get to your transports!” Keith ordered. “We’re getting back to the fight early!”

“Cliff, as soon as we get to _Explorer_ , I want a sit-rep of all V-15 systems! Let’s move it people; go-go!” Jeff barked. Within only five minutes, the beach party was cleaned up and the whole crew had returned to their ships and launched for Aldonia. What they would find, however, would not be pleasant.


	47. The Attempt

“I have to admit, for such a long-lasting organization, you’d think the Coalition would’ve planned in advance to have more security in place on one of their most important planets.” Ezor wasn’t wrong per se; the planetary defense systems on planet Aldonia had been easily overrun within a few hours.

“Communications to the rest of the Coalition are down,” Acxa reported.

“And the peoples’ rebellion?” Lotor asked, admittedly rather bored.

“Their leaders have avoided my forces so far, but it won’t be long before they are crushed.” Zethrid smiled.

“And as for the reports of Voltron and V-15, we’ve heard reports of the Lions in these key sectors.” Acxa highlighted several star systems on the screen. “The V-15 Fighters have been spotted in the Paglium Galaxy’s Delta Quadrant. But if our intelligence is correct, they are on Earth now.”

“Long flight.” Not so long, Ezor as the Castle and _Explorer_ both quickly exited warp not far from the prince’s ship.

Not three seconds after that, an image of the castle's bridge appeared on the screen. “ _Galra starcraft, this is Commodore Takashi Shirogane of the Galactic Coalition. You are violating sovereign Coalition space. Retreat for the border now and you will not be harmed._ ”

Lotor smirked. “Open a channel.” Once the channel was opened, he stood from his command seat and smiled. “I am Lotor, son of Zarkon; Emperor Pro Tem of the Galra Empire. And you seem to have forgotten Commodore, that we are at war. Aldonia has already fallen to my armies; surrender now or you _and_ Earth are next.”

“ _Bring it on._ ” Keith’s growling over the coms surprised the heir but not as much as the Lions quickly shooting out into the battlefield, quickly engaging the Galra fighters in the area.

“I am impressed Black Paladin; I wasn’t expecting this.” For once, Lotor was being honest with his enemy; a rare thing.

“ _What can I say? I’m full of surprises. Take this for example!_ ” Without much more warning, he quickly rammed the Black Lion head-on into Lotor’s ship, which didn’t have enough time to raise the shields.

The impact knocked all aboard around with serious consequences, angering the prince. Though he kept it in check. “Damage report.”

“Minor hull-breach on Deck 7; contained. Small plasma leak on Deck 2.” Acxa reported. “Your orders, my lord?”

Lotor smirked. “I think we’ve seen enough. Ceasefire and retreat.” It didn’t take long for the fighters to follow those orders, all rallying back on Lotor’s flagship before it quickly warped out of the system.

This course of action naturally confused a lot of the crew, Lance especially. “Okay, what?”

“ _Looks like he was just feeling you out._ ” Jeff theorized. “ _Probably wanted to see how you’d fight after what happened to Sven._ ”

Allura growled. “Kicking us while we’re down. Have you no honor, Lotor?”

“Maybe not, but he _does_ have a tracker.” This comment from Keith surprised the rest of the crew. “I planted it when I hit him. We getting a signal, Sam?”

“ _Loud and clear, Keith. But I tell ya this; that ship of his is way too fast for its size._ ” Sam noted. “ _Imperial engineers must’ve overclocked the Teleduv drive._ ”

“Lucky thing we have our own throttle-overclocking tech,” Keith smirked. “FORM VOLTRON!!!”

The Black Lion’s forelegs folded into the body and it shifted for the head to be facing straight ahead like a human’s. Keith stood up and smiled as he dropped down the main cockpit chute.

The Red and Green Lions folded their legs as well and locked to the Black Lion’s shoulders, sending Lance and Pidge up to the cockpit as well. Once they were gone, the Lions’ jaws and heads unlocked and slid back on the arms, revealing large hands with circular plasma cannons in the palms.

The same thing happened to the Blue and Yellow Lions, but they locked to the Black Lion’s hind legs forming shins and feet, sending Hunk and Allura up to the cockpit as well. Once all the Lions had locked together, the Black Lion opened its mouth to reveal a silver metal plate which parted to reveal a silver face-plate with blue, red and green around the eyes, which suddenly flashed to solid yellow and the Black Lion’s gold ears folded out into tall horns.

Once all the Paladins were in the main cockpit, they all smiled as Voltron took to the stars near the Castle. “You guys got this?”

“ _We got it. Go._ ” Jeff’s nod was all the affirmation Keith needed.

“Form Warp Wings!” At that command, the same massive pair of bladed wings from Eridanus formed from Voltron’s boosters with a similar pair forming on Keith’s back. “Full throttle!” Once he said that the engines started whining and Voltron show away from Aldonia.

Lotor meanwhile was still thinking about what had happened as his ship entered orbit around an uninhabited planet a few systems away. “Sir, long-range sensors are showing Voltron on approach.” an officer reported.

“Your orders, My Lord?” Acxa requested.

“I suggest we bring her about and fire with everything we have,” Zethrid growled.

“That’s your answer to everything.” Ezor smiled.

“Silence,” Lotor ordered, clearly bored. “If the Paladins can form Voltron, then clearly they are not as weak as Duchess Dorma led us to believe. Though I admit, the Black Paladin’s behavior has me… intrigued.” With that, he stood and picked his helmet. “Maintain this heading until my return and prepare my personal fighter. I’ll take Voltron personally.”

“ _With all due respect My Lord, you don’t stand a chance against Voltron._ ” Lotor chuckled; he still wasn’t used to Narti’s telepathic link.

“I’m with her. You’ll never take him in that thing.” Lotor smiled back at Zethrid as he donned his helmet.

“Who says I’m trying to?” With that, he left.

Not long after, Pidge’s sensors picked something up. “We’ve got movement.”

“Well, there goes the element of surprise I guess.” Lance shrugged. “Enhance.” Pidge quickly zoomed in on the fighter to show it to be more… dexterous-looking than any other Galra fighter.

“Just one fighter-craft? Where’s the rest?” asked Hunk.

“Probably scrambling as we speak. Let’s take it out now while we have the chance.” Keith nodded. “Ready red Palm-Cannon.” Lance smiled as Keith rose Voltron’s right hand and fired. Lotor chuckled at this display and quickly dodged the beam and the one that followed it before flying around Voltron like a bug.

“Okay, this is surprising.” Lance shrugged honestly. “Any ideas, boss?”

“Yeah, give him more targets,” Keith smirked. “Disengage.” With that, Voltron split back into the Lions and quickly tried to circle around the fighter. It went about as well as one might expect; Lotor blasted all the Lions nearly out of the sky, and not even with his own guns but the Lions’.

“Man, whoever this guy is, he’s good. He’s playing us against ourselves like we were rookies.” Lance remarked.

“It must be Lotor. Everyone stand by, I got this.” Keith ordered, sending Black flying after the fighter.

“Great. Great leadership.” The sarcasm there was palpable.

“Shut up Lance; I need to focus!” Keith growled, trying to fire on the fighter but it just shot back toward the flagship.

Lotor scoffed. “Quite disappointing. It seems the legend of Voltron really has been… embezzled.”

Lance had to pull himself up in his cockpit and groaned as he cracked his neck. “Well, that was embarrassing.”

“Maybe we should head back to the castle and regroup.” Hunk suggested.

Keith growled. “No way. Lotor is heir to the Galra throne; we take him down; we scatter the empire and make winning the war even easier.”

He was about to move Black after Lotor’s fighter until Lance flew Red into the way. “Whoa there, big guy. I thought _I_ was the impulsive one.”

“It’s not impulsive to want to take down the leader of the enemy, Lance. It’s smart.”

“Not when he’s smarter than us,” Lance noted, looking after Lotor. “Let’s at least get some more intel before we do anything, okay?”

“Yeah. You had my dad put a data surveillance system in the tracker, right?” Pidge asked.

“Yeah, so?”

“‘So’? Are you really that dense, Keith?” Allura groaned.

“Alright, I’m taking command,” Lance growled. “Pidge, get the feed from that surveillance system.”

“Whoa-whoa-whoa! Lance, you don’t just get to take my command from me like that.” Keith barked.

“Actually yes, I do. Under Coalition Starfleet Charter Volume 6, section 12, paragraph 3, subsection 7; ‘When a commanding officer appears emotionally, mentally, and/or physically compromised, the executive officer has the authority to assume command of the mission’.” Admittedly this quote (never mind the fact that it was _Lance_ who said it) surprised the others…

Especially when Hunk checked the actual section of the charter he named to confirm that. “Huh. That… actually _is_ an official rule. Why do you know that?”

“I studied up on all those sorts of rules.” Lance shrugged.

“Why?” asked Allura.

Lance just raised an unamused eyebrow over the video-link at this question. “This _is_ Keith we’re talking about here, right?”

“Touché.” Pidge shrugged. “Bringing up surveillance data. Huh. Looks like Lotor’s messaging his ship with coordinates for a rendezvous point.” Quickly she checked the coordinates. “A class-J gas giant called… Thayserix. Know anything about it Allura?”

“Only that it’s the last place a star-pilot wants to be,” Allura remembered. “Thayserix has irregular magnetic poles and the gases its atmosphere is composed of can cause serious damage to ships’ external sensors and communications. And that’s not even touching the red syntian nitrate pockets that dot the atmosphere.”

“Red syntian- Ugh, Madre de Dio.” Pidge groaned, remembering her chemistry class. “That stuff is so unstable that so much as _flying through_ them without proper shield calibration could cause them to detonate.” After she said that, practically every Paladin shifted their gaze to their commander.

“Ugh. Okay, okay fine.” Keith groaned. “Fall back to the Castle. Lotor will figure we didn’t take the bait.”

“Not just yet Keith,” Lance ordered. “Why do you want to fight Lotor so badly?”

Keith sighed; Lance was stubborn, he knew that much. “Because I know what Avok told Sven.” He gave a humorless chuckle as he remembered that. “I figure Lotor’s owed a fight with Sven gone.”

Lance sighed. “Well… we’re gonna have to wait for another day to settle up for that. For now, we’d better get back to Earth. We’ve got a court-martial to attend.” Hard to argue with that; the Paladins quickly reformed Voltron and flew toward the Castle, ready to settle up with at least one enemy.


	48. Court

Berlin, Germany; Earth’s seat of the Galactic Coalition judiciary system, and home of the new United Earth Supreme Court. Which would, in a very short time, be playing host to the court-martial of one General Charles Wegener. It wasn’t too long of a flight for the Paladins of Voltron since they had left the Castle of Lions at Earth’s Starport in orbit and taken the Black Lion down to land outside the Court Building. Once the crew disembarked, they were pleased to find Admiral Sanda and another red-uniformed admiral waiting at the landing pad. “Admiral Sanda.” Keith saluted; glad he’d worn his dress uniform for this mission.

“Commander.” Sanda saluted right back. “Allow me to introduce Rear Admiral Gareth Nicoletti from the Judge Advocate General’s office in Hong Kong. He’ll be sitting with you to help with this court-martial; make sure you get everything right.”

“Commander. I’ve seen your crew’s records. Not bad for a bunch of Garrison dropouts.” Keith smirked as the officer said that shaking his hand.

“That’s exactly what I’m hoping for in this trial, Admiral.” Nicoletti raised an eyebrow at this. “The general doesn’t trust us with our job of defending the universe, let alone Earth, from the Galra _because_ we’re dropouts. I’m thinking that if I can get him angry enough to trip up and confess to selling out Earth, I’ve got this in the bag.”

“Smart plan.” Sanda smiled. “Charles _has_ had a bit of a short temper for a few years; tried to get elected president once and when he lost to Beth, he sorta lost it. Plus he’s never exactly been known for keeping up with the latest intelligence so he may not know about your… lineage. Bring that up somehow, and the guilty verdict will write itself.”

Keith smirked and bumped fists with Lance. “Well, we’d better get a move-on. Don’t wanna keep the judge waiting.”

“Speaking of which, who _is_ the adjudicator for this court-martial?” Thankfully Allura’s question would be answered in the courtroom itself as the whole Guardian Force and several other officers and officials sat on the prosecution’s side of the courtroom. Honestly, after news of his spine being broken, the last thing Keith was expecting was to see Wegener walking as if he’d just come out of his office… until he noticed the partial exoskeleton around his legs with filaments connecting to his head. And unfortunately, the attorney he saw the general enter with was his closest associate Air Force Major General Herbert Wade; a blue-eyed man about as old as Wegener, which most likely meant that he shared many of the views as his client… but Keith knew of one thing from Griffin and the rest of his MFE squadron that might help him here; Wade was greedy.

“All rise.” No argument against the sergeant-at-arms would be tolerated so the whole courtroom quickly stood as none other than Commander Joseph Karolina; a dear friend of Keith’s father, sat at the judge’s post, as well as a Jury from all districts of the Coalition Military. “All those having business with this court-martial, stand forward and you shall be heard. Commander Joseph Balasko Karolina is presiding.” With that, everyone sat down.

“Alright, what’ve we got?” Karolina asked.

“'Docket #6915738-KY: Galactic Coalition versus General Charles Wegener'.” The sergeant called out. “'Defendant is charged with Conspiracy to Commit Treason against the State, and Conduct unbecoming a Galactic Coalition Marine'.”

“I see. Does defense wish to enter a plea?”

“Not Guilty.” That was all Wade said, and obviously, Keith didn’t believe a word of it.

“Very well. And I assume, Prosecution, that all necessary preparations have been made for this trial?”

“They have, your honor.” Keith nodded with confidence.

“Defense?”

“Commander, my client is not guilty and I intend to prove to this court and to the entirety of this Coalition that that is the truth.” Good luck Wade.

“Prosecution, you may proceed with your opening statement.”

Keith nodded as he stood. “Ladies and gentlemen of this court-martial, as I am sure you are all acutely aware, we are in the middle of a war the likes of which the human species hasn’t seen in a hundred years. An alien empire is threatening to reduce our great Earth to cosmic dust. So what else are we as soldiers to do but fight back and send this threat back where it came from? As this trial will prove, one man thought a worth-while alternative is to sell out our planet- our star system- our entire stellar- _nation_ … to the enemy.” With this, he pointed to Wegener. “And that man is sitting right there, disgracing the uniform he swore to wear as he defended the Coalition. The evidence and testimony we will put forward will prove beyond any doubt that General Charles Wegener of the Galactic Coalition’s own galactic Marine Corps began sending transmissions to the Galra Empire at 1900 hours on the night of July 15th of this year, all containing valuable information about defensive systems for planets and crafts in Coalition space and all intended to be used in this war between the Coalition and the Galra Empire. This man is guilty, and I intend to see him pay for his crimes.” With that, he sat back down and received a small pat on the back from Nicoletti, as if to tell him he did a good job.

“General Wade?”

The Air General stood and Keith already hated where it was going. “The prosecution seems to be under the mistaken inclination that just because he drives a twelve hundred-ton weapon that he can send a man who’s been in the military since before he was born to prison with the flimsy reason being that my client is accused of treason against the planet he’s been serving since before our world’s governments joined together after First Contact. If there is any in this court-martial who has at any time betrayed Earth, it is this preposterous excuse for a Lieutenant Commander; given his commission, because he and his cadet crew went AWOL from the Galaxy Garrison, stole a shuttle and took it to flee to the Altea System where they encountered an enemy threat alone and survived only because they managed to activate a hundred-year-old weapon, the technology of which has yet to be analyzed by official Coalition scientists and engineers, not only leading Coalition sailors and pilots on a half-cocked hunt, thus leaving Earth defenseless, but also leading to the death of Altea’s own King Alfor.” Keith could practically hear Allura growling at Wade for bringing up her father like that. “If this court-martial should have any defendant, it should be this man. And I assure you that once my client has been proven innocent, I will be more than happy to prove this man and his entire cadet squadron guilty of those charges.” Once he sat, Keith scribbled something on a sticky note and positioned it so that Wegener and Wade could see what it said; “ _You will hang for what happened to Sven._ ”

“Prosecution, you may call your first witness.”

No hesitation as Keith stood. “I call Lieutenant Katherine Holt to the stand.” With that, Pidge stood and moved to the stand. “Lieutenant Holt, if you would please raise your right hand.” She did so. “Do you swear that the testimony you give here will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you, God?”

“Yes, sir.” With that, she was ordered to sit down and did so.

“Lieutenant, would you state your full name, any preferred aliases and current occupation for the record please?”

“Lieutenant Junior Grade Katherine Gunderson Holt, though I prefer to be called Pidge; chief of intelligence for Starfleet’s 1st Guardian Force, First Chapter; designated Voltron’s Pride aboard the Castle of Lions. Serving under you, Commander.”

“Objection, your honor: this is a conflict of interest; the prosecution cannot call witnesses with whom he has served,” Keith smirked at this statement from Wade.

“Oh really? Would the defense care to site precedent?” When Wade looked like he was going to say something but didn’t, Keith nodded. “I didn’t think so.” With that, he stepped forward. “Now then, Pidge… when did you first start having suspicions about General Wegener’s trustworthiness?”

“When the mining fleet was sent to the recently liberated planet Luxia to retrieve the Voltonium used to construct the first five components of the Defender known as V-15.”

“Really? Might one ask why?”

Pidge nodded. “One might ask that. And one would be answered with ‘Because the ships _in_ that mining fleet were under General Wegener’s general command’.”

“I see. And why would that be considered suspicious?”

“Because according to his records, General Wegener has never been involved in any sort of Starfleet mining operation, and yet he is the first to volunteer to send a fleet to a planet near the edge of Coalition space to retrieve a few tonnes of a simple steel-like mineral? I believe that raised more than a few eyebrows at Starfleet Command.”

“Objection Your Honor, this is speculation; this officer cannot testify to the reactions of all of Starfleet Command,” Wade argued.

“And there I must rebuke you, General… or would you like the lieutenant to contact her mother Admiral _Colleen_ Holt; chief of Starfleet Intelligence and tell her that you and your client say hello?” Keith’s argument quickly made Wade realize the gravity of what he was saying.

“The prosecution presents an excellent point. Objection withdrawn.” With that, Wade sat back down.

“And what did you do in response to this fleet being sent, Lieutenant?” Keith asked.

“Well to be perfectly honest sir, it wasn’t actually brought to my attention until after the Robeast attack on Pollux.” Pidge nodded.

“An attack which the fleet at the front lines of the war did not register as approaching beforehand, is that correct?”

“Well, we have no way of knowing whether they registered them or not sir, but I know this; after I came to this realization, I began looking into General Wegener more closely.”

“Objection Your Honor, investigating a superior officer without signed permission from a department head at Coalition Military Command is a reprehensible act, to say the least, and warrants its own court-martial.”

“I challenge General Wade’s objection with Prosecution’s Evidence Exhibit ‘A’;” Keith produced a piece of paper with a very familiar signature on it. “An official warrant for Lieutenant Holt to investigate anything and everything about General Wegener about which she may feel suspicious, signed by Starfleet Command’s own Admiral Ellen Sanda.”

Joseph examined the document thoroughly and nodded. “I assume you have the admiral here to testify that this form is in-fact true and genuine?”

“She’s my next witness, Your Honor.” Keith smiled as he took the document back and handed it to the Jury to look it over. “Unless you find it unnecessary to do so.”

“In fact I do. I’ve served under Admiral Sanda more than once so I know how hard her signature is to fake. This form is genuine.”

“Thank you, Your Honor.” Keith smiled as he walked back to Pidge. “Lieutenant Holt, during your investigations, what exactly did you find?”

“That General Charles Wegener had been sending transmissions to a restricted Galra prison, which in turn has been sending those same transmissions to planet Korrinoth; capital of the Galra Empire.” Pidge nodded.

Keith nodded and turned to Karolina. “And we have the proof of those very transmissions here as Prosecution’s Evidence Exhibit ‘B’;” With this, he produced a data-pad and handed it to the judge. “An official log of transmissions intercepted between Earth and the prison itself not only by Lieutenant Holt but by my own mother Krolia: a member of the Order of the Blade; a Galra separatist group that has been helping the war on the front lines through espionage and sabotage within the Empire itself.”

Joseph and the rest of the courtroom seemed surprised by this revelation. “Are you saying, Commander, that you are half-Galra?”

“As far as I know, Your Honor, yes. But I was raised by my human father for ten years before the Galra Empire killed him in what was originally ruled an accident; therefore I am more human than I am Galra.” He accepted the pad back from Joseph and handed it to the jury. “But we’re not here to talk about me, we’re here to talk about a once-respected man in the Coalition Marine Corps betraying his state, uniform, and oath by transmitting what you see in this datapad to the enemy.” With that, he took the pad back from the jury, moved to his table and sat down. “The prosecution rests, your honor.”

“Your witness, General.” Wade rose to his feet and quickly moved to Pidge.

“Lieutenant, what is your personal opinion of the defendant?”

Pidge raised an eyebrow and adjusted her glasses for a second. “Request permission to remove my glasses before I testify, your honor?”

“Granted.” Joseph seemed confused by this request, but he didn’t have much time to question it as Pidge had already removed her glasses.

“I think the defendant is a traitorous scumbag who deserves everything that may be coming to him.”

“Even a dishonorable discharge and life imprisonment?” Wade would regret answering this question; Keith could already see the rage growing on Wegener’s face.

“Of course General, allow me to rephrase; I think the defendant, General Charles Wegener, is a traitorous scumbag who deserves everything that may be coming to him.” The reason for Pidge removing her glasses abruptly became clear when Wegener let his rage boil over and jumped over the table to attack her. Naturally, she recoiled in fear of actually being hit, but the guards quickly tackled the general to the ground, who then proceeded to kick and cry like a spoiled brat.

“You worthless ingrates! If it weren’t for me, this planet would’ve fallen years ago!” This was just pathetic, but Keith knew this made it all a slam-dunk. “I will not allow my position to be overstepped by a bunch of rebellious children!”

“Need I remind the defendant that the commanding officer of these ‘rebellious children’, as you so politely worded it, is the man who killed the emperor of the Galra empire?” Keith argued. “And I haven’t seen you set foot out in the wild black yonder since I first applied to the Garrison. Who’s the bigger hero here?”

“Remove the defendant!” Joseph ordered and the security quickly obeyed, dragging the kicking general out of the room.

All eyes turned to Wade, who looked more nervous than ever. “The uh- The defense has no further questions for the duration of this trial.” With that, he sat down and rubbed his head.

“Lieutenant Holt, you may step down.” Pidge quickly obliged as he looked at Keith. “Prosecutor, call your next witness.”

“No need, Your Honor.” Keith nodded, completely straight-faced. “As previously stated, the prosecution rests.”

“Very well. This court-martial will reconvene when the jury has reached a verdict.” With that and a single bang of the gavel, the court was adjourned though Wade didn’t seem to want to move from his position.

The jury was only in recess for about one hour before court was reconvened and this time, when he arrived, Keith saw that Wegener was without his exoskeleton and was seated in a wheelchair with his legs strapped down. “Has the jury reached a verdict?”

“We have, sir.” With that, the foreman handed the sergeant-at-arms the verdict who in-turn gave it to Joseph.

“‘In the matter of Galactic Coalition Versus General Charles Wegener, the members of this jury find the defendant guilty of all charges’…” Keith could barely contain his satisfaction at this ruling. “‘The defendant is hereby ordered by this court to life imprisonment in Tartarus Maximum Security Prison without the possibility of parole and a dishonorable discharge from the Galactic Coalition Marine Corps’. This court-martial is adjourned.” One rap of the gavel and the court stood to allow the judge and jury to leave… before two MPs moved in and strapped Wegener down so he didn’t try something before they wheeled him away as he screamed and cursed at Keith.

But Keith himself? He and his entire side of the courtroom were too busy celebrating their victory to bother listening to him. And the celebration continued as the crew walked outside, still cheering Keith’s praises, but they quickly calmed down and stood at attention as Admiral Sanda approached them. But then she smirked. “At ease, all of you, before you sprain something.” No need to tell them twice. “Congratulations Commander. Those officers in the courtroom with you have a lot of friends on the front lines and in command. You’re looking at a commendation and at least three medals, sailor.”

“Thank you, Admiral. But respectfully, medals are gonna have to wait; Lotor’s still out there and as long as he and his generals go unchecked, the universe isn’t any safer than it was when this war started.” Keith nodded.

“Of course, but if you wouldn’t mind, there is just one question I’d like to ask you.”

“Okay, shoot.”

Ellen smirked at the officer a bit. “You planned for that court-martial to go like that, didn’t you?” Keith just smirked at the admiral and laughed, which prompted her to laugh as well. Not to mention Nicoletti. “You devious sunuvabitch; you oughtta be in the JAG office.”

“Oh no, no-no-no-no Admiral, _this_ is what I should be; a soldier. And right now, this soldier’s gotta go save the universe.”

Suddenly Pidge’s wrist-comp started beeping and when she checked it, her eyes went wide as her Defense Mark started acting up. “As long as saving the universe involves a quick trip to the Hyperion Galaxy.”

Keith was confused. “Why should it?”

“Because the castle’s sensors just picked up more Voltonium in the Hyperion Galaxy.”

“What?! How’s that even possible? I thought Voltron and V-15 were the only Guardians.” Lance’s question and statement were valid and rational.

“I don’t know and I don’t care. All I know is that we can’t allow the Galra to get their hands on it.” Pidge rationalized.

“Agreed. Everyone on board and we’ll get to the castle; move-move-move!” Everyone quickly listened, running up the Black Lion’s jaw. Keith may have stopped to give the Admiral one last salute but after that, he was up and away in less than a second.

All Ellen could do was smile as she watched after the Black Lion. “Your boy’s become something special Trevor. But if you’re really up there looking out for him, I think he could use all the help he can get for this op.”


	49. Asteroid Hunting

“Okay, so remind me again; why do we have freshman-cadet newbies in the lounge?” Lance genuinely wanted to know the answer to this question as he stared at the security feed of that deck, seeing an African-American boy with hazel eyes and a tan-skinned tough-looking kid with dark-blue eyes and black hair. “And why is one of them in my spot?” Dorma of the Blades was also aboard, but she just rolled her eyes at this last part.

“Lance, we’ve been over that a thousand times.” Keith was really getting tired of this talk. “Just because you’re always the first guy to the lounge doesn’t give you proprietary rights there.”

“This is their training mission Lance; Admiral Sanda told me about it while you guys were out chasing Lotor.” Shiro shrugged. “And believe me; I tried to argue with her but she’s three ranks above me. No arguing with a direct order from an admiral.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that too much if I were you, Shiro.” Sam smiled, patting his old friend on the back. “If those rumors I’ve heard in Command are right, Starfleet may be about to employ a new 5-pip badge Fleet Admiral’s rank for the Command Division. Get four more promotions, and _you_ may be the one giving _her_ orders.”

Shiro chuckled at that. “Well, I’m not holding my breath for that. Anyway, Ellen also told us that they specifically requested this assignment. Apparently, they’re big fans of Voltron.”

“Oh? Fans, huh?” Lance was suddenly very okay with this, as he pulled his hair back on his head. “Well, far be it from me to keep fans from their idols.”

Keith just rolled his eyes. “Let’s just go welcome them aboard, team.” No argument there as the Paladins all piled into the Turbolift down to the observation level, prompting the two cadets to glance at the doors.

“Officers on deck; ten-HUT!” the black kid yelled as they stood rigid.

Keith chuckled. “At ease, you two. Before you sprain something.” They did so, relaxing their stance. “Alright then; who are you guys?”

“Engineering Cadet Vincent Hayes reporting for duty, sir!” the African-American reported.

“Flight Operations Cadet Daniel Brennan reporting for duty, sir!” the other kid reported.

“Hey, now cmon; we’re on a first name and/or nickname basis here kids,” Lance smirked.

Vincent smirked as he looked at the lieutenant. “If that’s the case, I prefer to go by Vince if you don’t mind.”

“Alright then boys, let’s get serious here,” Shiro smirked as he walked over and tossed them each a blaster-pistol. “You know how to use those?”

Daniel smirked as he spun his pistol on his hand. “Yeah, I’m a fair shot.”

“Good. Because we may be going into a combat situation.” Keith noted. “Pidge, where’s that Voltonium reading coming from?”

Pidge quickly brought the readings up on the viewscreen in the observation lounge. “Looks like it’s on the move; heading 316-mark-030. Toward the Ulippa System.”

This news seemed to surprise Dorma. “Ulippa? The Order of the Blade just sent me some intel about that; Lotor recently transferred Viceroy Throk and his court out there, including my brother.”

“Well, if a mass of Voltonium is about to slam into the Galra, then I suggest we snag it out of orbit before they figure it out,” Lance suggested.

“Agreed.” Keith quickly set coms to the bridge. “Coran, set course for the Ulippa system; warp 4. Prepare weapons and shields. We may need them.”

“ _Course laid in. Engaging Teleduv._ ” With that, the ship shot across the lightyears straight to an abnormally large icy H-Class planet.

Once there, everyone gathered on the bridge to see what was quickly brought up on the viewer; a large battleship seemingly docking near a Galra base on the surface. “Dorma?”

“Lotor doesn’t burden himself with cargo ships,” she answered Keith’s question simply. “The emperor leaves all trade within the empire to his underlings.”

“Then can someone explain how the Voltonium reading is coming from on board that ship?” Hunk was right; the readings were strong on the ship.

“The crew must’ve already picked up the readings and they’re taking it to Lotor.” Sam theorized.

“We have to get that ore. Odds are that cargo ship is off-loading it here to wait for another ship to take it to Korrinoth.” Shiro resolved. “It’ll be vulnerable during transfer. That’s when we strike.”

“Alright then. All Paladins to the Lions; let’s get in there.” Keith’s orders were quickly followed as they armored up, but before they left, they saw something on the viewer they didn’t expect; the cargo ship opened fire on the base.

“Who the hell are these guys?” Lance’s question was definitely valid, but no one had a concrete answer for him.

“Only one way to find out. Get to the Lions.” With that, the Paladins quickly moved for their hangar-lifts, but before Hunk left, he stopped Lance and the two smirked at the cadets.

“Whaddaya say, guys? You want in?” Daniel smiled as he heard that.

“I’m with Lance.” It didn’t take much for Vince to agree either, and before long, the Lions had launched and deployed toward the planet.

Meanwhile, at the base, Commander Hazar had just escorted the viceroy to a bunker and was watching the security feeds go down one by one. “This may be the worst post in the Empire, but it’s _my_ post. Victory or Death!” He growled as he cocked a plasma shotgun.

Once on the surface, the Paladins launched their Speeders and deployed to the cargo ship, the cadets taking up the rear. “Shiro, we made it aboard. No crew in-sight. Proceeding with the search.”

“ _Good. Remember; the primary objective is getting eyes on the Voltonium. Secondary is figuring out who we’re dealing with here._ ”

“Copy that.”

Unfortunately for Hazar, he would find out fast as the doors to his command center blasted open, allowing three very familiar warriors into the chamber to destroy his sentries. “You?! _Lotor_ sent _you_ to finish what _he_ started?!” he growled as he tried to blast them.

“You’re one to talk. Or have you taken over for the viceroy and no one told us yet?” Ezor taunted.

“Cmon Acxa, lemme finish ‘em off!” Zethrid roared, crushing sentries behind cover.

“Negative; stick to the plan!” Acxa ordered.

“My life does not matter! All that matters is the Empire!” Hazar roared… before suddenly stopping.

“ _And you shall serve it again._ ” Naturally, Hazar wasn’t expecting this voice in his mind, but it seemed to override his entire body along with it.

Acxa smiled as she stood up. “Excellent work Narti. Now then, Commander Hazar, if you would be so kind…?”

Hazar nodded weakly. “Computer, disengage security.” At that order, all security systems in the compound were deactivated with sentries falling to the ground.

Unfortunately, Daniel heard the lack of noise and got worried. “Sounds like the party next door is over. We’d better hustle.”

“Agreed. Hunk, where’s the ore?” Keith ordered.

“This way.” Quickly everyone followed him.

“Retracting roof.” That was the last thing Narti needed Hazar to do before she terminated her hold over him, letting him collapse to the ground. Above, a large roof suddenly opened and revealed something to the Castle’s crew.

“Coran, gimme a closer look at that,” Shiro ordered, allowing the display of the object to be enlarged and it greatly surprised Shiro and the rest of the crew. “No way. Is that-?”

“Part of the Teleduv!” Indeed; it _was_ part of the Teleduv drive used in Operation: Ragnarök. “What in the name of Groggery the Infirm is going on here?”

“I don’t know, but we can’t let that cargo ship get that component. Get me the Paladins.” It only took a second to establish a comlink to Keith’s helmet-com.

But he and the others were too distracted looking for the ore to pick up the transmission. “I don’t get it. According to these readings, the Voltonium must be in here somewhere.” The only thing Hunk and the others found in this hangar was a large fighter similar in design to the one Lotor used at Aldonia.

“Maybe it’s on-board that ship?” Lance suggested.

It was a good guess, but Vince’s readings confirmed something far, far worse. “It _is_ the ship.”

“Impossible! Lotor’s already crafted a ship from the ore?” Allura was right; how could they have done that so easily?

“Man, this bites,” Lance growled.

“ _Guys! Paladins, come in!_ ” Shiro yelled over the coms, prompting the others to check. “ _We have a situation. There’s a piece of the Teleduv from Operation: Ragnarök inside that base._ ”

“What? How’s that possible? It blew up.” Lance was right; the Drive was destroyed by Lotor’s fighter squadron at Eridanus.

“They must’ve found the parts.” Pidge theorized. “Maybe they’re trying to build some sort of wormhole generator.”

Sam hummed thoughtfully. “ _That’s not impossible. With enough modification and expansion, a Teleduv drive could easily be able to focus neutrinos into space-time folds. But the only way something like that would even come close to working is if an Altean directly controls it._ ”

That reminded Allura of something. “Honerva. Zarkon enslaved her when the war began. She practically invented the conversion of Teleduvs to wormhole generators; she could use it easily.”

“With her and the generator, Lotor could put the entire Ultra-Black Corps on the streets of New York City within a matter of minutes.” Dorma theorized.

“Is anyone else kinda freakin’ out right now?” Hunk asked, terrified.

“Yep. Mark me down for one freak-out.” Lance said plainly.

“Ditto.” Daniel nodded.

“Lotor’s gotta be close. If we find him, we can end this war without any effort.” Keith resolved.

“ _Negative, Keith. You can’t allow anyone access to that ship. Fall back to the Lions; you need Voltron._ ” Shiro ordered.

“Why take out _one_ ship when we can stop all of this by killing Lotor right here, right now?” Keith questioned rationally. “He’s outsmarted us before and I aim to break his streak.”

“ _Which is exactly why you’re going to destroy that ship before Lotor can get his hands on it._ ” Shiro reasoned. “ _Fall back fo Voltron; that’s an order._ ”

Keith growled, contemplating disobeying but Allura stopped him by putting her hand on his shoulder. “Keith, I want Lotor stopped as much as you do. Perhaps even moreso for what he’s done to my family, but Shiro has a point.”

Keith relented. “Alright. You guys fall back to the Lions. I’ll stay and search the ship for Lotor.”

“No way, big guy.” Lance scowled as he walked forward, spear ready. “We stick together no matter what, remember?”

Keith just growled. “Fine. Hunk, take point. Daniel, Vince; watch our backs.” With that, they all left the hangar… or at least they tried to, but they were cut off by Lotor’s generals. “Uh-oh.”

Zethrid charged toward Hunk, who smiled at this challenge and bashed her off in one direction. “Whoo!” With that, he transformed his Bayard to hammer-mode. “Banzai!” Narti quickly charged Pidge, who tried to keep her suppressed with plasma shuriken, but she blocked them all with a surprisingly dense tail with which she swept Pidge off her feet before she bashed Allura in the face. Vince and Daniel tried to shoot her but then Acxa flipped over them and fired. Quickly Lance jumped in and intercepted the blast with his shield before he and Keith both charged and locked their weapons with the general’s blasters.

Once they did, however, they both took a good look at her and recognized her. Acxa recognized Lance too, though only by his alias. “Charlie?”

“Acxa?” Suddenly Ezor flipped over and tossed a blade at the three, breaking them up. Lance smiled as he grabbed the knife up and tossed it back, but it was deflected back at Keith before it could hit her. Thankfully, before it hit _him_ , it was blasted down by a plasma arrow. Keith smirked and shot Allura a thumbs-up, which she graciously returned before they all reengaged in battle.

Ezor quickly got Keith pinned in such a way that he couldn’t use his sword, but he just smirked and used his suit’s systems to transport his Bayard to the other hand where it switched to twin-blaster form. “Bang.” He almost shot Ezor in the face, but she quickly dodged and allowed him to use his sword again to chase her.

The rest of the team was having a pretty rough time, though it was clear Hunk was enjoying going hand-to-hand with Zethrid as they locked each other into a wrestling grip. “It’s been a long time since I’ve faced such a worthy opponent. I’m going to enjoy crushing you.”

“Well you’re gonna have to wait a while.” With that, he cracked her a headbutt which dazed her long enough for him to bash her aside with his hammer… just as Allura was tossed back from Narti into Keith’s arms, definitely worse-for-wear.

Keith growled as he saw them approaching for another round. “We don’t have time for this! Fall back! Everyone fall back!”

Pidge smiled. “I’ve always wanted to do this. Smoke bomb!” Once that bomb hit the ground, the room filled with smoke and allowed the Paladins to run as fast as they could to the speeders, cadets following close behind just as they took off.

“Zethrid, stand down!” Acxa yelled as the Bralkian half-breed moved to follow them.

“Come on! This is our chance to kill them!” she growled.

“We have what we came for; stick to the plan or I will kill you myself!” Acxa ordered as she ran to the fighter.

“Okay seriously, what is going on here? Who were those chicks?” asked Daniel.

“If I had to hazard a guess? Lotor’s generals.” Hunk shrugged.

“You’re not wrong. I met one of them before; in that weblum. She stole some of the scaultrite.” Keith remembered.

“Acxa? Yeah, I met her too; at that Unilu moon. I actually _won_ some scaultrite off her.” Lance nodded.

“So I noticed. ‘Charlie’?”

“I didn’t know if she knew my name and not my face yet. Sue me.” Lance’s excuse was obviously idiotic, judging from the sound Keith made.

“What does that matter? If the Empire manages to create a wormhole generator from that Teleduv, the Coalition has already lost this war.” Dorma argued.

“If Lotor has a Voltonium ship, we have much bigger concerns,” Allura noted.

“And more questions than answers.” Pidge brought up. “I thought Lotor took over for his dad. Why is he attacking one of his own viceroys’ bases?”

“All good questions, but I don’t know the answers to any of them.” Keith shrugged. “That’s why we have to stop him here and now.” Unfortunately, they had one more problem as Lotor’s generals were tractoring the Teleduv into the large fork off the bow of the ship.

Shiro quickly took command of the situation. “We have to stop that cargo ship. Coran, take us in. Sam, ready weapons and raise particle barrier.”

“On it.” the two jinxed. The shield quickly came up as the Castle moved toward the planet. But then something fast came out of the ship.

“That must be the ship Keith reported.” Sam theorized. “Man, that bad boy is fast.”

“Might have some hardcore weapons too.” Shiro theorized. “Fire photon cannons; don’t let it get a shot off at us.” The cannons quickly fired but the ship was just too fast, dodging around every blast that came its way.

“Whew. Quick little bugger, aren’t we?” Coran smirked, maintaining fire toward it.

“Engineers must’ve overclocked _its_ drive system too.” Shiro theorized. Suddenly the ship fired off a powerful nebulon blast that shot clean through the barrier on the port-side, slicing clean through it.

“Total shields down to 86%,” Sam reported. “Port-side shields completely dead.”

“Voltron, where are you?” Shiro ordered.

“ _Hang tight Castle; we’re on our way,_ ” Keith reported. Unfortunately, another nebulon blast shot into the starboard barrier.

“Shields down to 23%. Another hit like that and we’re sitting ducks.” Sam reported. Suddenly a familiar blue blast shot up from the planet, causing the enemy ship to move out of the way. Everyone looked and saw the Lions on their way up from the planet.

“Alright team, let’s make this quick,” Keith smirked, not really noticing the apparent headache Daniel was experiencing in the back of his cockpit. “Form Voltron!” Suddenly, Daniel’s eyes started glowing and he randomly smirked.

“Flash-Form, Engaged!” Once he said that the Lions instantly came together and shot into space with their Paladins all in the command-core.

“Whoa! What?! What just happened?” Lance asked, severely discombobulated in his command-seat.

“Uh, might wanna ask the new guy.” Everyone looked and saw that now Daniel had a seat in the back of Voltron’s command core, but he didn’t have any controls aside from some sort of map of all of Voltron’s boosters and what looked like a car-accelerator.

“Daniel? What did you do?” asked Keith.

“I dunno. I can’t really describe it; it’s like- it’s like Voltron told me to say it and I just did.” Daniel shrugged.

Pidge was surprised as she checked her readouts. “Well whatever caused it, it looks like Voltron’s even faster than before.”

“Let’s put that speed to good use,” Keith smirked as he saw the fighter flying toward the castle. “Form Blazing Sword!” With that, the sword was quickly summoned and the great knight charged in.

“ _Keep Voltron and the Castle engaged until the cargo ship is out of range,_ ” Lotor ordered his generals, who were at the controls of the fighter. The ship quickly dodged just as Voltron slashed at it, but they still followed, eager to take it down but they missed every slash and blast.

Keith growled. “Cmon Daniel, gimme some more speed!”

“I’m trying; it’s not like this power comes with an instruction manual!” Daniel reported.

“ _Guys, the cargo ship is getting away with the Teleduv!_ ” Shiro reported.

“I thought taking down the Voltonium ship was objective one now!” Keith argued.

“ _We can’t allow Lotor to make that wormhole generator!_ ”

“Shiro’s right. We need to destroy it.” Allura agreed.

“But the asteroid is right there! We can take it; we just need more speed!” Keith growled.

“ _Commander Kogane, destroy that Teleduv; that is an order!_ ” Shiro barked. Keith turned Voltron and saw that the cargo ship was escaping. He knew he had to do it or the Coalition was doomed, so he turned to attack it… and was immediately blindsided by a barrage of plasma-bolts in Voltron’s back.

“Shield!” That order was followed in an instant, shield rising before the enemy fire could get any worse. Unfortunately, the ship started charging another nebulon blast.

“ _Excellent work Generals; you have them right where I want them. They can either defend and allow the cargo ship to escape with the Teleduv, or attack the ship and risk destruction._ ” Lotor smiled.

And he was right; even Hunk came to the same conclusion. “What’s the plan, boss?”

Keith growled but smirked as he came up with something. “Hunk, gimme your bayard and drop the shield’s energy field. We’re attacking the cargo ship.”

“But that’ll leave us wide open!” Hunk argued.

“I know that. And so does Lotor. Daniel; on my signal, gimme full power to the port thrusters. Shoot us straight to starboard.” Keith smirked.

Daniel knew where this was going and he liked it. “Aye-aye sir.”

Keith smirked as he disengaged the shield and activated the yellow bayard. “Form Hyper-Roar Cannon!” Once the shield fell, the cannon quickly formed with Voltron’s finger on the trigger.

“ _FIRE! NOW!_ ” Lotor’s order quickly preceded a massive nebulon blast aimed straight at Voltron’s back.

“THRUSTERS!” That was probably the signal so Daniel fired all the port thrusters and sent Voltron straight out of the firing line… which was more than could be said for the Teleduv, which promptly exploded just as the Hyper-Roar Cannon was deactivated.

Lotor was obviously seething with rage at this display. “ _Fire again!_ ” The nebulon blast shot straight toward Voltron, but Keith was more than ready.

“Shield!” Quickly the energy field rose again and blocked the blast just in time. Unfortunately, it was clearly a stopgap as the fighter quickly escaped to the cargo ship before they could react.

“ _Your failure is most disappointing Acxa,_ ” Lotor growled. “ _Return now before more ships converge on your location._ ”

“Yes, my emperor.” Acxa was concerned; she knew the Empire did not reward failure but she followed her orders, leaving Voltron alone to think.

“So wait; Lotor was attacking a Galra base to try and steal a piece of our Teleduv?” Lance growled a bit as he ran his hand over his head. “None of this makes any sense.”

“We can debate this later! They’re getting away!” Pidge reminded.

“We have to go after them!” Dorma growled.

“Negative. We’re falling back to the Castle.” Keith resolved. “Something beyond strange is going on here and we have to figure out what.”

About an hour later, Keith was in Allura’s favorite place on the Castle watching the stars when Shiro walked in. “I’m… sorry I had to step in back there.”

“It’s okay. I’m more than a bit impulsive; I get that.” Keith slipped down to set his feet on the deck. “I swore I had it under control.”

“‘If a battle cannot be won, do not fight it’.” Keith chuckled at that reminder; he had completely forgotten that Sun Tzu quote. “Sometimes you just have to learn to make hard choices.”

Keith let his smile fall as he looked back out at the stars. “Guess I still have a lot to learn about being a leader.”

“Well, you’ve got a good teacher,” Shiro smirked at that; kind though he was, he couldn’t help but be a bit egotistic. “Besides, if it weren’t for that crazy plan of yours, Lotor might be working on a wormhole generator right now. You’ll get there. The Black Lion chose you over me for a reason. I’m proud of you, kid.” Keith smiled and hugged Shiro, remembering all the years he’d been there for the young commander since his father died.

Suddenly Pidge came in over the coms. “ _Shiro, we have an incoming transmission for you from the_ Explorer _: it’s Captain Newley; he says he has to speak with you immediately._ ”

Shiro smiled as he broke the hug with Keith and stood straight. “Patch it in here.” Pidge quickly did so, revealing the captain looking a bit apprehensive about something. “What can I do for you, Rick?”

“ _We need to meet. Be in the Beta Virginis system as soon as possible._ ”

“Of course; why?”

“ _Eh, it’s really more of a show, don’t tell thing._ ” With that, Rick moved to one side and showed the two an image of a medical bed. And on it, somehow still alive, was the last person either Shiro or Keith expected.

“No. Way.” was all Keith could muster.

Meanwhile, on Korrinoth, Throk and Hazar had been called back for interrogation as to what happened. “I swear I don’t remember anything, except that whoever it was, they knew the proper landing codes. Please believe me.” Hazar begged.

“I do, but you still must pay for your failure,” Haggar growled, allowing her magic to course through Hazar, making him scream in pain as Lotor looked smugly at both Throk and Chancellor Mozak.

Narti had done _her_ job well, at least.


	50. Interception

“ _Captain’s Log; August 26 th, 2057; 1527 hours. It’s been a few hours since _Explorer _left Earth for the Beta Virginis star system after General Wegener’s court-martial and admittedly, it’s been a fairly concerning matter for a lot of the crew. The Marine Corps isn’t just starship security; they also carry with them the pride of their homeworlds and the entire Coalition. Pride which Wegener’s actions have essentially robbed them of. But I have to make sure they can handle it. After all, I’ve got a giant robot in the hangar bay._ ” Rick mulled that last part over in his head for a bit but then shook it.

“Computer, delete last sentence and add entry to official log.” The computer beeped as it followed the order, the captain smiling at the picture of his crew at the launch party… before Shannon started that crazy food-fight.

He was just getting up to look at it better when a communications channel opened to his cabin. ” _Captain to the Bridge._ ”

Rick rolled his eyes as he moved to the door, walking out onto the bridge. “Report.”

“We’re picking up a distress signal near the front lines; bearing 187-mark-001, straight toward Coalition Space” Hawkins reported.

“One of ours?”

“Hard to tell, but it is being transmitted on a standard Coalition frequency.” Chip replied. “And there’s no identification code.”

“Could be Militia or rebels from Imperial space.” Krik theorized.

“Could also be a trap.” Zandee shrugged.

“Either way, I say we investigate. If it _is_ a trap, I think it’s better _we_ trigger it rather than someone else.” Ginger presented a certain logic to that; the _Explorer_ could handle a situation like this much easier than other Coalition ships.

“What are your orders, Captain?” Rick smiled at Jeff; he always was one to jump to the ready.

“Helm, set course to intercept that ship. If it _isn’t_ a trap, that ship may have passengers that don’t wanna get picked up by the Galra.”

“Aye-aye Captain.” Cinda nodded, spinning the helm and tiller to aim for the beacon.

“Jeff, take your team out ahead and run recon. If this _is_ a trap, it’ll give us a little extra time to prepare.”

“Yes, sir. Strato Team, rally in the hangar; we’re heading out. Klaus, get the Strato Team ready to go.” Didn’t take much more than that for the whole squad to meet in the _Explorer_ ’s hangar where they met their air-boss; a prototype tactical android designated KL-1U-5 (though the crew shortened that to Klaus, because in Cliff’s words “KL-1U-5 was too hard to say in conversation”.) “We all set to take off, Petty Officer?”

“Yes sir; Strato components are prepared for lock into the catapults. Just get on in and let’s do this.” Jeff always liked Klaus; he might as well have been human with the way he spoke. And yet he was always still amazed that the Alteans had managed to help humanity to make Isaac Asimov’s positronic brain work, which powered the android.

“Alright then. Strato Team, wing up!” Jeff’s order was swiftly followed as all pilots quickly boarded their V-15 components which were then locked into the hangar’s catapults.

“ _All prepared units, sound off,_ ” Hawkins ordered.

“Strato-1 standing by.” Jeff.  
“Strato-2 standin’ by.” Rocky.  
“Strato-3 standing by.” Wolo.  
“Strato-4 standing by.” Chip.  
“Strato-5 standing by.” Ginger.

“ _Alright, all systems reading green. All set for launch._ ” Klaus reported, sealing the catapult chambers and opening the main bay-doors. “ _Away in three… two… one._ ” Once Klaus reported that, all five units were quickly launched from the bay out into the stars.

“Alright Strato Team, let’s fold it in. Form Strato Fighter!” On that order, the helicopters linked into the front and back of the Weapons Module as the Command Jet Explorer locked onto the Module’s roof and the VT Fighter locked on the side, engines facing down.

“ _Strato Team, your objective; as I’m sure you are aware, is to run reconnaissance on the distress beacon’s origin and determine whether or not it is, in fact, a Galra trap,_ ” Newley ordered. “ _Once you’ve verified that and/or dealt with any Galra reinforcements,_ Explorer _will follow and assist._ ”

“Roger that, _Explorer_. We’ll get it done.” Jeff reported. “Rocky, align Fighter along _Explorer_ ’s heading.”

“Set,” Rocky reported as the fighter started shifting.

“Alright, let’s do this. Ginger, Wolo, Chip; full-throttle on all engines. Let’s get out there.” No more order needed as the fighter quickly warped out to the void where the apparently damaged Galra fighter was left hovering in. “Chip, full scan; find me anything to suggest a trap.”

“Scanning now.” The results came in within a few seconds. “Nothing. Looks like we’re clear.

“And the fighter’s screwed.” Wolo looked over the scan’s results for the shuttle and he was right. “Life support’s practically gone and the main reactor is on the verge of a meltdown.”

“Passengers?”

“One, but I won’t be reading it for long. Whoever’s down there, they’re almost dead.” Wolo reported.

“Understood.” Quickly Jeff got on the coms to the ship. “Strato Fighter to _Explorer_ ; no trap. The beacon is coming from a Galra fighter, but it's alone and the pilot might be about to die. Requesting support.”

“ _Roger that. En route now; prepare to board once we arrive._ ” No sooner had the captain said that than the _Explorer_ had warped right off the stern of the fighter, main hangar open with an atmospheric containment force-field in the doorway. Quickly the Strato Fighter separated and flew into the hangar and allowed drones to park them in their usual spots. “Klaus, draw in the shuttle.”

“ _Aye, sir. Engaging tractor beam._ ” Once the beam was online, the ship was carefully drawn into the hangar.

“Marines and Professor Page, report to the hangar; we have a medical emergency. Hawkins, get down there and help them out.” Newley ordered.

“Aye sir.” the Commander quickly left for the hangar as the science officer and Ginger’s men arrived in the main hangar along with the whole rest of the Assault Force.

“Alright, let’s crack this nut,” Cliff smirked as he broke out a plasma torch with which he cut open the rear door of the fighter, allowing what little atmosphere was left to drift out… with a foul smell to accompany it.

“Whew! Jeez! What crawled in there and died?” Chip groaned. Prof. Page quickly looked inside and what he saw honestly terrified him.

“Ultra-Black Corps soldiers. Six of them.” He was right; six Galra cyborgs were in the back of the fighter, all dead… and in a disturbing state.

“Dear God. Who would do something like this?” Lisa’s question was fair, especially when she saw the state of the bodies.

“Only one way to find out.” Jeff resolved. “Cliff, open the cockpit. Rocky, get these bodies detached. Shannon, I want autopsies of all of them. Ginger, once that’s done, have your Marines load the bodies into torpedoes and fire them back to the border. With messages explaining the situation and an apology for what happened to them. With any luck, they’ll consider it a gesture of goodwill.”

Shannon quickly ran an examination of all the sentries as Rocky worked on their mechanical systems and did some thinking. “Judging from their states, I’d say these guys died just yesterday.”

“Yeah, but how? I thought the whole point of these cybernetics was to keep the sentries alive.” Hawkins asked.

“It was.” Rocky nodded, examining the bodies for himself as he cracked the power cords. “Whoever captured these guys, he wired up their cybernetic power cores to feed all their power into the ship’s primary systems. The core basically runs their major organ systems after surgery so without its power, there was no way they would last too long.”

“Well, we’re about to find out about who did this.” Cliff nodded. “Lock’s decrypted; we’re good to go.”

“Good. Marines, stack in; you’re on point.” Jeff ordered. Ginger quickly listened and led two men to the cockpit which quickly opened. But once it did, and Ginger saw who was in the pilot’s seat, she was so amazed and terrified that she dropped her gun to cover her mouth. “What’s wrong?”

“Jeff… Y-You….” Ginger could barely articulate what to say, so Jeff carefully sidestepped her and his eyes popped open as well.

“Sven?”


	51. Return of the White Knight

“I just- I-I still can’t believe it.” Keith raked his hair as he stared at this medical bed. It had been an hour since the Castle of Lions rendezvoused with the _Explorer_ in the Beta Virginis star system, and no one else could believe it either; Sven was alive.

“Has Romelle been informed?” Allura had to ask; she knew her cousin would want to know about this.

“Chip sent a transmission to Command just before you arrived, asked that it be relayed. With luck, a shuttle should be here from the Altea system within a few minutes.” Prof. Page nodded. “And with more luck, he’ll wake up soon and we can hear what happened straight from the horse’s mouth.”

“I have another idea on how to do that if ya don’t mind, Mike.” Cliff came in with a data-clip from a small video camera in his hand. “I found this in a log-camera in the cockpit of that fighter; had Sven’s initials carved on the shell. May give us at least a few answers.”

“Alright, let’s put it up.” No need to tell him twice; Cliff quickly locked the clip into the med-bay computer and brought up the first entry. It just looked like Sven in some sort of frozen cave with a fire nearby.

“ _Personal log; Marine Corps cadet Sven Holgersson; August 12 th, 2057; local time unknown, estimated at early evening._” The others weren’t sure how to explain it, but he seemed… different in this recording. And it was more than just the obviously Galran cybernetics that formed his new legs. “ _I don’t exactly remember how it happened, but when I woke up… yesterday, it feels like… I was in the medical lab on some Galra ship. I had these new legs, but I had no idea how. All I knew was that I had to get off that tub. But I saw something weird on the way out; I don’t know how to describe it, it was like… memories, but… I didn’t remember them. I saw myself being experimented on by Galra scientists. One of them mentioned something called Operation: Kellax, but I have no idea what that means. Anyway, that was when I saw that I had… unfortunately drawn the attention of a few sentries._ ” He chuckled now, stretching a bit before he huddled back up by the fire. “ _Glad to know my Marine Corps training wasn’t for nothing. Plus, these legs? Got some serious kick to ‘em, literally. I managed to take down most of them by the time I got off the main ship in an escape pod… at least, before they blasted my engine and knocked me out of the sky. I held it together as long as I could but I’m hardly anything like Airman James Griffin; ended up nose-diving onto some ice planetoid. I’d include precise coordinates so Starfleet could mount a rescue mission, but the escape pod… well…_ ” He pointed the camera off in the direction of a cliff with what looked like massive scrapes leading toward the edge. “ _Yeah. Barely managed to get off alive before it went over, and even if it weren’t for that, the computer died on impact. Still, takes more than a short-lived dogfight and hitting ground at what I’m just gonna assume was a hundred meters a second to take down **this** marine. Anyway, even with my Crydorian blood, it’s probably only a matter of time before hypothermia kicks in and I die. But if by some miracle, this message reaches Starfleet before that happens, then, please… help me. Now if you’ll excuse me, this freaking wound on my arm is killing me, so…_” He strenuously pulled his right foot, glowing hot from having been in the fire for what must’ve been a solid few minutes and held it close to the wound itself, near his left bicep. “ _I’m going to now cauterize my arm with my foot. A sentence I never thought I’d hear myself say aloud. Camera, end log._ ” The camera must’ve been damaged because it kept recording long enough for the sound of burning flesh and a piercing scream to be heard before the log terminated.

Naturally, all those present to witness it cringed as they saw this. “Well, that explains the burn-scarring.” Shannon shrugged trying to break the ice, only for all eyes to go to him. “What, too soon?”

“What’s the appropriate amount of time to go by for that joke to be okay?” Jeff asked honestly.

“Alright, Jaysus.” Shannon frowned as the next entry came up.

This time, he was in some other cave, clearly chained up by his wrists since the camera was on some sort of ledge pointed at him. “ _Personal Log, Marine Corps cadet Sven Holgersson; August 14 th, 2057; local time unknown, estimated mid-afternoon._” He was whispering for some reason as well. “ _Found water yesterday, guarded by what I assume was a local lifeform for this planetoid. Almost killed me before some humanoid-ish beings drove it off. I figured they were saving me, but it looks like they’ve just taken me prisoner. Got some sorts of clamps on my cybernetics; can’t feel my legs. Gonna try and escape, see if I can flag a rescue._ ” With that, he started swinging but without his legs, it was difficult.

“ _What’s that noise?_ ” The crew could only assume that was one of Sven’s captors, as it was coming from outside the room.

“ _Lemme check._ ” Another one who peeked in through what looked like a simple cloth door. “ _He’s awake._ ”

“ _Did you remember to put the clamps on him?_ ”

“ _Which clamps?_ ”

“ _The ones that keep his legs paralyzed._ ”

“ _The red ones?_ ”

“ _They’re the only clamps we have! Ugh!_ ” With that, the two entered and revealed themselves to be males of unknown humanoid species.

“ _Who are you guys? Where am I? Why am I tied up?_ ” Sven’s questions were reasonable.

“ _I say we eat him._ ”

“ _Wait, what?!_ ” Okay yeah, this big alien was really jumping the gun here. Good call, Sven.

“ _He doesn’t look Galra._ ” The other one.

“ _So no eating?_ ”

“ _Yes Jaak, no eating._ ”

“ _Oh for- I’m **not Galra,**_ ” Sven growled.

“ _Worse then; you’re a traitor._ ” This Jaak was clearly going through worst-case scenarios.

“ _What? No, I would never-_ ” Now it appeared he understood where he was. “ _You’re rebels, aren’t you?_ ”

“ _Damn right we are; we’re with the Guns of Gamara and we stand against the Galra. We haven’t thrown our lot in with them like the likes of you._ ”

“ _What? Hey no, I’m not working with them; I’m on your side. My name is Cadet Sven Holgersson of the Galactic Coalition Marine Corps, I’m a Paladin of Voltron. You can contact Starfleet Command on Earth and confirm my file. I must’ve been captured after… wait, how long ago was the Battle of Eridanus? What happened to Zarkon?_ ”

“ _Zarkon? **You** fought Zarkon?_” Clearly, Jaak didn’t believe him as he laughed. “ _Yeah right, and I’m the Phloban of Gargalax._ ”

“ _I… don’t know what that is, so for all I know you **might** be._” Sven shrugged. “ _Look just- Please, you **have** heard of Voltron, right? V-15? The Lions? I-I need to know; what happened to my crew? How long has it been?_”

“ _The Empire has been sending scouting parties to try and flush out the Guns since Zarkon declared war,_ ” Jaak growled. “ _And now they send **you** of all beings to infiltrate us? Hmm, they must be joking._”

“ _Hey no, no one sent me; I escaped._ ”

The other guy just scoffed. “ _Escaped a Galra battle cruiser?_ ” This made them both laugh and it was really starting to piss Sven off.

“ _I’m not buyin’ it!_ ” Jaak yelled.

Sven seemingly recoiled at something from this guy. “ _Well, I know something else you **should** buy. One word; mouthwash. Anyway, I swear I’m telling the truth; I stole an escape pod two days ago and they shot me down. Why would they shoot at me if I were a friendly? Please, just- contact someone to verify my identity; the Order of the Blade, Voltron, Starfleet Command, anyone. They’ll agree with what I’m saying._”

“ _And risk someone tracking us back here? Uh, how about no?_ ” suggested the other guy.

“ _Look around, spy. We have limited supplies out this far. We have no problem watching you starve to death until you start telling the truth._ ” Jaak growled as the two walked away.

“ _If you do that and the Coalition finds us, you’ll be tried for war crimes._ ” Apparently, this stopped them as they glanced back at the soldier. “ _In my culture, the starvation of prisoners of war is considered reprehensible, to say the least._ ” Apparently, this didn’t scare the two as they just left the room. Once they were gone, Sven started whispering to the camera again. “ _Well, it was worth a shot. Clearly, these guys aren’t in the know when it comes to the Coalition’s Rules of War. Either way, might as well keep recording as I get outta here._ ”

“Computer, pause.” Pidge’s order was quickly followed as she turned to the crew. “I don’t understand; why wouldn’t these guys know about the Coalition, not to mention us declaring war on the Empire?”

“I think I can answer that Pidge,” Wolo replied, bringing up a set of star-charts. “I managed to chart the various stars in the first entry and compile a map. It looks like Sven crashed on planet Inverus-VI; smack in the middle of the Galra front lines.”

“Well, that answers that but then why haven’t the Blades said anything about these Guns of Gamara?” Lance asked, turning to Dorma.

“They may make it seem like they’re an organized entity, but in truth, they’re really nothing more than a Rankorian glob-fly buzzing in the ear of the Empire. Terrorists by your standards really; they wish for nothing more than to render my species and all those who follow them extinct.” Dorma shrugged. “The Grandmaster has tried to appeal to them through discrete audio-only channels, but every attempt has been resoundingly rejected.”

“Well, might as well figure out where this goes. Computer, resume.” Hunk’s command was followed by the video showing Sven silently climbing his hand-bonds as the two aliens started listening to a Galra transmission. “ _Prince Lotor requires your assistance at Planet Thayserix._ ” That was Acxa, no doubt about it. “ _We expect you here immediately._ ”

“ _Thayserix? Where’s that?_ ” Jaak clearly asked.

“ _Only a few lightyears from here. That fleet is definitely passing through our quadrant. Log it._ ”

“ _Ohh, I hate the log. How do I get on it again?_ ”

This annoying banter continued for a minute until another communique was intercepted. “ _We’ve received orders from Prince Lotor._ ” A male this time. “ _We are to intercept Voltron._ ”

That gave Sven the push he needed as he grabbed the pipe his hands were tied to and pulled himself up into the shadows over the little cave he was in, before slinking away. “ _Voltron? Uh… go see if that guy’s ready to talk yet._ ”

Jaak apparently did this as he slipped in, Sven’s camera capturing the moment on audio. “ _Vakala, get in here! I told you we should’ve eaten him._ ”

“ _His legs are offline; he can’t have gotten far. Split up; I’ll check outside, you search the tunnels._ ” Sven almost chuckled as he pulled himself along the small tunnel he was in until he was outside, where he quickly ambushed Vakala and used his blaster to shoot the clamps off his legs.

It took a few more minutes before he found Jaak in a tunnel where he then started shooting after Sven accidentally released Vakala. “ _I really don’t want to have to do this! Stand down now and you won’t get hurt!_ ” Clearly, Sven cringed at the pain in his arm, but he stayed firm in his resolve. Thankfully, it was at this point that his two enemies started fighting over who got to use the gun, so Sven quickly set his for low stun and fired it, sending Jaak to the ground paralyzed but still conscious.

Vakala grabbed his gun out of the air, but by the time he got a handle on it, Sven was already approaching like something out of a horror movie. “ _Stay where you are! I’ll shoot!_ ” Sven just smiled and cranked up the blaster before he aimed it at his enemy.

“ _This thing is at full power. One blast will vaporize you, but I’m a merciful man so I’ll give you one last chance: Stand. Down._ ” Unfortunately for him, Vakala chose, hands shaking, to fire so Sven quickly spun one of his legs up and intercepted the blast with the metal on his shin, not even leaving a scratch before he jumped and spin-kicked the blaster out of his hands before aiming his at Vakala’s face. “ _Bad choice._ ”

“ _You’re on the wrong side of this war, pal,_ ” he said trying to be intimidating.

“ _Obviously you weren’t listening when I introduced myself. Cadet Sven Holgersson; Galactic Coalition Starfleet Marine Corps and Paladin of Voltron. Now I’m only gonna ask this once so either listen or I take your ship and every crumb of your supplies: Where is Thayserix?_ ” It was at that point that his camera deactivated.

“Aw, what? Come on man, don’t do me like that!” Lance groaned. “This is like a TV drama.”

“Lance, focus. This is an explanation as to how our teammate was found in a Galra fighter of all things.” Keith growled as the next entry was brought up, showing him in the cockpit of the fighter he arrived on _Explorer_ on, wearing a busted space suit.

“ _Personal Log, Marine Corps cadet Sven Holgersson; August 15 th, 2057; 1743 hours Altean Central Standard Time._” He seemed very happy with himself about something. “ _After parlaying with my erstwhile captors; Jaak and Vakala of the Guns of Gamara in my last log entry, they’ve allowed me to borrow their shuttle for passage to hijack a ship from a Galra battle-cruiser bound for planet Thayserix; a class-J gas giant a few lightyears from the front lines. Have to admit I’m uh, not exactly proud of this but I took about half a dozen Ultra-Black Corpsmen prisoner. I managed to set their prosthetics into a sort of a sleep mode for now, but I don’t know how long that’s gonna last. I just hope I can catch up with Voltron. And uh, Vakala, if you intercepted this before the Coalition did, I’m uh… I’m sorry, but the cruiser’s defense systems blew your shuttle up like, five minutes after I breached the atmosphere. But flip-side; as you can see, I’m alive so your pre-mission briefing worked. Hope you guys have a spare._ ”

Once the entry ended, Lance looked at the others with a neutral look on his face. “They don’t have a spare, do they?” Everyone agreed that they probably didn’t as the next entry quickly came up, showing him in the cockpit of the fighter again.

“ _Personal Log, Marine Corps cadet Sven Holgersson; August 16 th, 2057; 0416 hours Altean Central Standard Time._” He seemed pretty downtrodden about something. “ _No sign of Voltron anywhere near Thayserix. It must’ve been a trap laid for the team which they didn’t get caught in. As of now, I am one day out from Thayserix. No visual or radar contact of any Coalition ships. Currently heading towards a relatively peaceful section of the border, hoping I can pass through it to Coalition space where I can flag a rescue._ ” The next entry came up; he looked worse. “ _I am four days out from Thayserix. Should cross the border in a few days; not much in the way of problems so far, but it’s a rough ride. Wasn’t much in the way of emergency rations on board and to be blunt, I’m not much of a fan for Galra food, so I- I basically ran out yesterday. Distress signal pinging on standard Coalition frequency, but so far there’s been no response._ ” Then the next entry came up. “ _One week out from Thayserix. Haven’t eaten in three days. Emergency fuel is gone; relying on the ship’s inertia to get me to the border. Emergency power died yesterday, so I had to… Oh, Jesus, I am gonna catch so much flack for this. I-I wired up my Ultra-Black Corps prisoners to feed power from their cybernetic cores directly into the emergency core; diverting power from that to life support and distress signal. Main reactor may meltdown soon, but at the very least if that happens, it’ll save me from court-martial for improper care of prisoners of war. I- This may be my final entry so… Keith, if this reaches you just- tell my family I miss them. And… tell Romelle… I love her._ ” With that, the log ended.

The crew was in shock. Sven had been through all that since Thayserix? Lance looked at his commander and simply placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry I stopped you, Keith.” Keith seemed confused. “If I didn’t stop you from going after Lotor then… maybe we could’ve saved Sven.”

“It’s okay Lance. We found him.”

Suddenly a communication came in. “ _Hangar to sickbay._ ”

“Go ahead, Klaus.” Shannon acknowledged.

“ _A shuttle from the GCS_ Golden Hind _just docked. It’s Colonel Alexander and Princess Romelle. They’re requesting permission to head up and see your patient._ ”

Shannon smiled at the others, especially wide when they saw Sven shift on his bed. “Send them up.” It didn’t take long for this to be relayed and for the two to arrive in sickbay.

Though Lance noticed something unusual about Romelle; her skin was much… lighter than it was when they first met. “Where is he, Shannon?”

“He’s right here.” The Marine groaned as he pulled himself, his eyes straining to stay open.

“R- Romelle?” The princess covered her mouth in shock as tears started welling up in her eyes. She couldn’t even say anything; she just threw her arms around her and started bawling happily. “Hey, hey. It’s okay Romelle; I’m here.” He was just wrapping his arms around her in comfort when he noticed his superior officer. “Colonel.”

Alexander gave a small chuckle as he looked at the display. “I would not believe it if I didn’t see it with my own eyes. Sven Holgersson alive and well.”

“I’m afraid that’s a relative term Colonel.” Prof. Page argued, looking at Sven’s readings. “He’s still showing signs of decompression sickness and if I may be frank, I’m surprised he lasted as long as he did without rations. He’s going to have to stay on-board for a while so I can run tests… and also… determine how he’s come back to life.”

“Wait, what?” That rationally surprised Sven. “I- I was dead?”

Keith knew he had to say something so he shrugged and nodded. “According to official records, you have been since Eridanus. Last month. Radiation sickness.”

“Which is why Shannon and I really need to run an examination on your body to see if we can determine how you could be alive.” Prof. Page continued.

“Well, I hope your examination can wait, Professor, because I have an announcement for our resurrected soldier.” Alexander stepped forward and smiled as he handed a rank badge to Sven, who recognized the rank instantly… but he still looked up at the colonel for some sort of confirmation. “For outstanding actions in the face of the enemies, the Marine Corps has agreed to promote you to Sergeant Major. Congratulations Mr. Holgersson.”

Sven smiled as he gripped the badge and saluted his commander as best he could. “Thank you, Colonel.” With that, Alexander left sickbay to allow Sven to look around at his crew. “So… what’s been goin’ on this month?”

Yeah, he was definitely alright.


	52. Renegades

Korrinoth had been in chaos ever since the Battle of Eridanus, but it had only gotten worse since Lotor took the throne, even just temporarily. No one in the Galra Empire or even the Coalition really knew what was driving the Prince, but Haggar knew this much; he had to be stopped or the Empire would fall.

She was in her study when one of her druids came to her. “High Priestess, you are needed.”

“Then I take it, Thensor, we are ready to continue?” She smirked wickedly at the druid’s nod. “Good.” With that, they left again to find Hazar still being tortured by the other druids.

“Why do you insist on hiding the identity of those who attacked your outpost, commander? Give us the information.”

Hazar growled as he pulled himself up. “I swear to you, it must’ve been Lotor.” Unfortunately, this only earned him another pulse of magic torture.

“We have detected significant damage to his prefrontal cortex,” Thensor reported. “We believe that he has no memory of what happened.”

“Nothing in the universe can completely wipe a memory out, my disciple. There are always remnants deep within, trying to claw their way out.” Haggar smirked as she said this, walking to the commander. “Why would Prince Lotor attack an outpost when he could walk in and take what he desires?”

“I swear I don’t know.” Haggar just pulsed him again.

“It was the prince who assigned him and Throk’s viceroyalty to the Ulippa system.” Thensor brought up. “He must be trying to stain the prince’s honor.”

“Perhaps. Proceed with the interrogation at your discretion.” Haggar ordered as she left for her study again.

Meanwhile, across the universe, Olkarion had recently been fast-becoming the field capital and central forward-operating base for all Coalition actions; intelligence gathering, ship assignments, Militia assignments, everything. In fact, just now the _GCS Constellation_ had docked to let a crew of refugees overboard, along with a battalion of Militia soldiers.

Sven quickly took point in directing the refugees. “Just through there, folks. Minister La’sai can get you sorted out.”

“That all of them?” Coran asked.

“Yeah, that’s it.” a Teqqan militiaman nodded as he and a female Kythran emerged along with the other militia-men. “The moons of Kraydah are barren now. I’m Lieutenant Ozar, this is my first officer Te’Osh. Few hundred more souls looking for a free home in space.”

“Few dozen more soldiers in the war with the Empire.” Lance smiled. “Glad to have you here.”

“Thanks, Lieutenant. By the way, we’ve got a guest with us. You guys may know him.” And indeed they did; Pidge and Sam at least.

“Matt? He-Hey good to see you, big bro!” Pidge laughed as she jumped on him in a hug.

“Glad you’re here, son.” Sam smiled, shaking his son’s hand. “You here on assignment?”

“Yeah, Hammond is supposed to be taking over my job on _Constellation_. From here on out, I’m on the front with you guys.” Matt smiled, walking over to Shiro. “Marine Captain Mathew Holt reporting as ordered, Commodore.”

“Stand easy, soldier.” Shiro’s order was quickly followed. “Damn good to see you, Matt. You and Sven can coordinate with Colonel Alexander in the main tower up there.”

“Thanks, sir.” Wasn’t much of a walk, though they did have quite a lot to talk about.

And they would have even more to talk about soon enough as a rather peculiar procedure was being undertaken in the imperial Galra Palace; Zarkon was finally back to full capacity in a new suit of dark life-support armor as he sat upon his throne. “It pleases me to see you back on your throne, my lord. I fear your prince has not taken his duties as heir seriously. We have lost vast stretches of territory to the Coalition and rebel planets appear throughout our central space like flies.”

“Your decision to place my son on the throne was ill-advised, Haggar,” Zarkon growled. “But it is of little consequence; I am returned now. And it is time my wayward son was relieved of his duties and undo the damage he has done to the Empire.”

The prince himself was busy on his battleship, having technicians and drones work on forging the Voltonium asteroid he intercepted into more ships. “Prince Lotor, we’ve received a transmission from Central Control,” Acxa reported. “Emperor Zarkon has returned and requires your presence immediately.”

“Very well. Prepare a shuttle.” Lotor nodded, snacking on an alien fruit as he oversaw the construction.

“You don’t think he’s onto us, do you?” Ezor asked, rationally afraid of what might happen were that the case.

“I doubt it. My father is simply ready to return to the throne.” Lotor smirked as he stood. “And he can have it for all I care. Our plans have not changed. Narti, you’ll be coming with me.”

“ _Vrepit Sa, my Lord._ ” The telepathic general saluted as she left with her lord.

“The rest of you, stay with the ship and continue construction oversight. I will return shortly.” It was a relatively short journey from where Lotor had parked his ship to the Palace-craft on Korrinoth where he put on his best fake smile for his father. “Ah, Father. Lovely to see you’ve recovered. And such a suit of armor! Much more intimidating than the first. You look stronger than I’ve ever-”

“Spare me the pretense, Lotor. I did not summon you here for you to waste my time with flattery.” Zarkon growled. “You are relieved of your position as Emperor Pro Tem, effective immediately.”

Lotor knew what that might mean; even after he was released from stasis, Zarkon rarely allowed Lotor within three lightyears of Korrinoth… which meant his plan wouldn’t work. “Father I beg you, do not discard me. Allow me to stay at your side. I have yet to take Princess Allura as a bride-”

“Another of your failings, thank you for reminding me,” Zarkon smirked. “Your reign, however short it may have been, will be regarded as a black spot upon the Imperial honor for centuries after you die.”

“O-Of course, my efforts at ruling the Empire seem feeble when compared to your inestimable accomplishments, Father.” Lotor nodded. “But perhaps if you were to train me, I could learn to do better.”

“You… are no longer needed,” Zarkon growled.

Lotor scowled as he knew this would interfere, but relented. “By your wish, Father.” With that, the prince simply left the throne room for his shuttle… though he smirked at Narti, who easily knew what that would mean.

“Something is amiss with the prince, My Lord,” Haggar noted. “I sensed a powerful energy about him when he arrived… something ancient.”

“He is no longer of any concern to either of us, Haggar,” Zarkon growled.

But he was greatly mistaken; everything was Haggar’s concern as far as Lotor was concerned… as she reminded General Narti before she and Lotor left.

“Narti, check for trackers.” When something came up on the second attempt, Lotor smirked. “You honestly think you can fool me, witch? Destroy it.” All it took to do that was for the shield harmonics to be recalibrated, causing the tracker to explode.

Back on Olkarion, Pidge and Chip (who had just arrived with the rest of the Guardian Force) were showing Matt around the castle, as well as a lot of Pidge’s data on tracking Galra ships in the Green Lion’s hangar. “Man sis, this is a pretty sweet algorithm; lot of targets to choose from, statistically acceptable margin of error, and I love that you color-coded it because what are we, animals?”

The three laughed at that, but Hunk who was sitting with Cliff eating popcorn just groaned as he watched them. “Yeah, they’re definitely related.”

“Well, you guys are pretty great too Hunk. I mean, using the emission spectrums to track V-15 and then the asteroid at Hyperion was just- I mean, that’s pretty genius.”

“Oh. Well… yeah, I try. Really couldn’t have done it without Melvill and Fraunhofer.” Hunk cringed a bit as a popcorn bounced off his face.

“I hear ya. Y’know, they said that Fraunhofer was the best glassmaker in Europe and when he died, he took all his greatest chemical recipes to the grave.”

“Bloody ‘ell, that’s dedication,” Cliff smirked. “I wanna Fraunhofer glass.”

“Well, this isn’t quite as cool as that, but check it.” Matt smiled, pulling out a data clip. “This is all the relevant data the Militia and other rebels have pulled for me. I bet that if we plug this intel into the set-up you guys have here, it could fill in a lot of gaps. If it works, we might just have the best anti-Galra intelligence mining op in the universe.”

“Uh hello…? Hook a girl up.” Pidge smirked, reaching for the clip.

“I gotcha covered, but I think we should get Mom in on this. The rest of the fleet too.” Hard to argue with that, so they all quickly left for the city control tower.

Lotor had arrived as well; in his ship’s construction bay. “How’d it go, my lord? You fired?” Ezor asked sadly.

“I’m afraid so, yes.” Lotor didn’t seem all that down about it. “How have things been going here?”

“The second ship is complete and ready for testing,” Acxa reported. “The engineers are just making some final minute adjustments.”

“Excellent. How much ore do we have left?” Narti’s head was unfortunately plagued with strange voices… which allowed Haggar to see everything happening on the ship.

“ _60% of the Voltonium has been used in the production of the first two ships, My Lord,_ ” Acxa reported. “ _We will have more than enough to build the third._ ”

“ _Fantastique! Well done, General._ ” Lotor smiled.

“Blast it all,” Haggar growled, quickly running to the emperor. “My Lord, I have no idea how but Lotor has gotten his hands on a Voltonium asteroid.”

“What?” Zarkon had never sounded so shocked in his life.

“And worse; it appears he is forging starfighters from the ore,” Haggar reported.

“The only reason he would be keeping them secret would be to use them against the Empire,” Zarkon growled. “But we shall strike first. Scramble the fleet! I want Prince Lotor _dead_!”

“Vrepit Sa!” his present generals reported.

At Olkarion Air Control, the Stoker-Holt kids were working on calibrating the data with the rest of the Guardian Force, Starfleet Command, the Coalition Council, Grandmaster Marmora and a captain from the Militia present to watch. “Alright, I think we’ve just about got it.” Sam was right; the data interfaced beautifully and several targets came up on the star-charts, which seriously warranted a celebration.

“ _I can’t believe it._ ” Colleen marveled from her office on Earth. “ _We’re tracking Galra fleet movements practically live._ ”

“Y’know, I think I can come up with a few tweaks we can make to help extend the range.” Pidge smiled.

“ _I don’t doubt it, Katie._ ” Colleen nodded, hugging her daughter’s holo-image. “ _I am so proud of you._ ”

“Uh, might wanna hold off on that cuz.” Chip noted, noticing something.

“What’s up, Chip?” asked Hawkins.

“I’m intercepting up a scrambled message.”

“The militia’s collected hundreds of them.” the militia captain noted. “We’ve never cracked any of them.”

“ _Let me take a look._ ” Pidge quickly swished the holographic data to her mother, who ran it through a decrypter and smirked. “ _I’m guessing this isn’t like your usual number-for-letter swap, eh Sam?_ ”

Sam chuckled; he loved that code. “No, I don’t think so. According to Captain Varix here, militia intelligence has run these messages through every kind of decryption tech they have available, even just staring at the numbers with a translation log. Nothing’s come of it yet.”

“Maybe they’re not words.” Hunk suggested. “Maybe they’re just numbers.”

 _That_ got Wolo thinking. “Maybe… or maybe it’s more complicated than that. Maybe it’s a frequency.”

“A quantum signal that broadcasts other frequencies to converge on?” Sam asked. “Well, that’s not _im_ possible. But it’s too high; these are over 3,000 gigahertz.”

“Maybe if you try this?” Everyone looked at Daniel and saw that he was doing a handstand as he looked at the data.

“Seriously?” Keith asked.

“No wait, he’s right.” Vince realized, quickly slipping in and inverting the code. “For every wave we receive, there’s only partial transmittance, right?”

Then it occurred to Hunk too. “Oh right, yeah. So we figure the transmission coefficient…”

“And tune comms for the frequency of the _reflected_ waves.” Pidge finished. “Daniel, you’re a genius!”

Daniel smirked as he jumped back to his feet. “Yeah well, I do what I can, y’know?” Once the tuning had been done, the control tower began receiving a transmission causing everyone to burst out in happy cheering… before Keith started listening, prompting the others to do the same.

“… _assemble at rally point trox-lyte immediately. Engage targets at coordinates in next transmission by order of Emperor Zarkon._ ”

The message repeated as Keith realized what that meant. “Zarkon is still alive?”

“How’s that possible; you cut him in half!” Lance reminded him.

“Uh, guys… you might wanna see this.” Chip quickly directed the others’ attention to the fleet map.

Captain Varix gave an impressed whistle. “I’ve been with the resistance since I was born before I joined the militia and I’ve never seen troop mobilization on this scale before.”

“ _What’s their target?_ ” the tactical department-head asked.

“Unclear, Admiral Ford. Near as we can tell, nothing.” Shiro reported. “No planets, rebel ships, Blade outposts, nothing of strategic importance anywhere near those coordinates.”

“Whoever they’re attacking, we have to help.” Allura resolved.

“ _I don’t like this._ ” the new Marine general noted. “ _We should be gathering intel, not diving headlong into a fight without knowing why, especially now that we know Zarkon survived Eridanus._ ”

“All due respect General Hammond, but I disagree,” Sven noted. “This is worth investigating, and I suggest the Paladins be the one to investigate it. If it _is_ a trap, Voltron can fight his way out.”

“I think they’d probably notice us.” Lance pointed out.

Pidge snapped her fingers as she brought something up. “Not if we’re cloaked.”

Unfortunately, this prompted the councilman from the Rigel system. “ _You have cloaking technology? This is a direct violation of the Coalition’s treaty with the Rigel Collective._ ”

“ _And there I must rebuke you Councilman Kalev; the treaty explicitly states that cloaking technology is prohibited in Coalition space, not Galra space_.” Admiral Sanda argued.

“ _The point remains-_ ”

“ _Ladies, ladies, I think this is something that can wait until the next official Council meeting in London to be deliberated._ ” President Archer brought up. “ _You’ve got the go-ahead, Lieutenant Holt._ ”

“Hold on Madam President,” Shiro argued. “I don’t think it’s safe for just the Green Lion.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure I can upgrade the cloaking device to work on the entirety of Voltron,” Pidge argued. “We could all go.”

Lance chuckled as he bonked Pidge on the back. “Were you just waiting for Matt to get assigned here before you _rolled_ that one out?”

“Eh, kinda,” Pidge admitted. “I’ve been working on it for a while; the only problem is that I can’t man my control panel and operate the cloaking device at the same time.” She cast a sidelong glance at Matt. “But if I had a co-pilot…”

“Oh, hells yeah!” Matt laughed.

“Alright then, let’s do this.” Keith nodded. “We’ll contact Olkarion with further details when we have them. All hands to the Lions!”

“Sir!” the Paladins all saluted, along with Matt, Daniel and Vince before they quickly moved out to the Castle.

On Lotor’s ship, the prince was marveling at his new Voltonium fighter when the ship was suddenly shaken by a large impact. Quickly the prince ran up to the bridge to find his generals and crew busy working around the deck. “Report!”

“An Imperial fleet is attacking us from the port stern!” Zethrid reported.

“Return fire and prepare for tactical retreat!” Lotor ordered.

“Wait, there’s another fleet approaching off the starboard bow!” Acxa reported just as another fleet came in after that one. “We can’t hold them all off!”

“Prepare the Sincline ships for takeoff. Load the rest of the ore into mine; we’ll have to finish construction elsewhere.” Lotor resolved as he left for the hangar.

Soon enough, Voltron had arrived in the area to see the Galra ship firing on… something, but they couldn’t make out what. “We’re closing in. All hands, stand ready.”

“Matt, activate the cloaking device.” Matt was at a console in the back of the main cockpit with Sven and Vince while Daniel was at his usual thruster control panel.

“Cloaking device is running within standard parameters,” Matt reported as Voltron went invisible. “Return telemetry is kinda crazy; we can probably only keep this up for 10, 20 minutes tops.”

“That should be sufficient.” Allura nodded. “Now let’s see who the Galra are attacking, shall we?” Everyone agreed as the fleet continued pelting Lotor’s ship with blaster fire.

“What the hell? That’s Lotor’s ship!” Lance was right, and the rest of the crew was surprised as well.

“Man, Galra military officers just do not like each other, do they?” asked Hunk.

“Zarkon must not be happy with how his son left things in the Empire,” Daniel noted. “We might be looking at the beginning of a civil war.”

It certainly appeared that way as Lotor and his generals made their way to the Sincline ships, the sentries wishing them off with a salute. “Divert all remaining power to shields. Hold off the fleet until we’re away, then scuttle the ship- Whoa!” That last impact rocked the whole ship, knocking the crew to the ground with Acxa landing on top of Lotor… and blushing a bit.

“ _Inertial dampers are about to die._ ” the bridge reported.

Acxa quickly got off the prince and helped him up. “How did they find us out here?”

“We must’ve been tracked,” Zethrid suggested.

Lotor scowled as he knew she was right… and he also knew how as he glared at Narti. “Traitor.” Without hesitation, he drew his sword and slashed her head off, severing her mental link with Haggar… but allowing Kova to live as Narti’s headless body fell to the ground. “ _Now_ , we can leave.”

The generals were all understandably messed up at that scene, but quickly joined their lord in escaping with the fighters unbeknownst to the fleet, but Voltron easily noticed. “Whose ships are those?” Sven asked.

“Lotor’s.” Allura scowled.

“Guess Daniel was right; we’ve got a front-row seat for the beginning of a Galra Civil War,” Keith noted. “Pidge, send this information back to Olkarion; tell Shiro to relay it to Command.”

“Already on it.” Pidge was quickly transmitting tons of data to the comms relay at Olkarion.

“Uh guys, those ships are getting a little too close for comfort.” Vince brought up.

Quickly Keith shifted Voltron so he would dodge, but as soon as the fighters passed him, he became visible. “Not good. The ion trails from those ships’ warp-drives messed with our cloaking spectrum.”

“Can you find a workaround?” Pidge asked.

“Too late; our cover’s blown. Incoming!” Lance was right; the whole fleet that had destroyed Lotor’s battleship was now en route to attack Voltron.

“Fall back and call for back-up!” Keith ordered, Daniel quickly firing thrusters to get Voltron out of the way of the incoming blasts, but there were a few hits. “Hunk, gimme your Bayard!”

“Comin’ your way!” Once the yellow Bayard found its way to Keith’s hand, the Hyper-Roar Cannon quickly formed and fired a scatter-shot on the fleet, which destroyed almost all the fighters.

“Alright, that oughtta hold em.” Keith smiled as he deactivated the cannon. “Tactical retreat! Now!” This order was instantly followed as the knight quickly flew away to Olkarion.

Suddenly… “Sir, we’re picking up a transmission from Korrinoth,” Acxa reported.

“On-screen.” Keith gave the same order as Lotor when Pidge told him that.

Once the transmission came on, it showed Zarkon in his new massive suit of armor. “ _Attention, citizens of the Galra Empire; from this day forward, my son Prince Lotor is to be regarded as a fugitive criminal and enemy of the state. All citizens are authorized to use deadly force to stop him or any who follow him. I repeat; Prince Lotor is an enemy of the state. Engage with extreme prejudice; kill on sight._ ”

That was a massive revelation for all on both sides of the war and a notice of something massively important; things just got a whole lot more complicated.


	53. The Parade

“ _Commodore’s Log: September 16 th, 2057; 1328 Hours, Earth Eastern Standard Time._” Shiro noted. “ _It’s been three weeks since Zarkon returned to the throne and declared Prince Lotor a fugitive of the Empire. There is however some good news, which I’m afraid I’m late for a briefing to discuss, so that’s gonna have to do it. Oh, except for one thing; we still haven’t gotten used to having Sven back yet. It’s… honestly kinda creepy._ ”

“End log.” With that, Shiro left the Castle of Lions to quickly board the high-speed rail system of Olkarion to the Coalition’s Forward Command Post on the great planet. Once there, he found President Archer, Coran, Lieutenant Ozar, and the Coalition Joint Chiefs of Staff as well as holo-coms of Keith, Jeff, and Marmora. “Sorry I’m late; had to finish a log-entry.”

“Don’t worry about it Takashi; we’ve all been there.” the medical admiral noted. “So, what’s this good news you promised us in your transmission?”

“Got it right here, Ashmore.” Shiro smiled as he placed a pad on the table, which projected a hologram of intelligence reports from the Blades. “There’s been an upsurge in planets liberated from Galra Control by our forces, and some that have just rebelled on their own.”

“ _Guess that civil war Zarkon started with his son helped us out more than he thought._ ” Keith noted.

“Either way, I say convincing these planets to join the Coalition is our new first priority.” General Hammond voted. “We’ve been losing skirmishes to the Galra ever since Zarkon took the throne back.”

“ _Agreed. Say what you will about Lotor; at least he wasn’t as aggressive as his father._ ” Jeff noted.

“Oh, does this mean more Guardian Force events?” Shiro smiled; he still couldn’t get used to Coran in that new Diplomatic Corps uniform of his, PO1 rank or not.

“Yep.” Shiro was a bit surprised to see the JTS dismiss this plan like this. “Hey cmon guys; believe it or not, Coran’s Voltron-centric propaganda goes a long way in inspiring others to join the fight.”

“ _Not to mention stroking Lance’s ego._ ” Keith groaned.

“ _I heard that!_ ” Lance clearly yelled from the background of Keith’s call.

Shiro rolled his eyes. “Ignoring that… Ozar, time for your intel.”

“Comin’ up.” Ozar quickly presented a large map of the universe to the meeting room, mostly purple and blue (to signify the Empire and the Coalition respectively) but some green spots in imperial space. “These green clusters you see represent planets and, in several cases, entire star systems that have rebelled and joined the militia and want to take the next step by joining the Coalition.”

“ _And not very coincidentally, those are also the areas the Guardian Force has personally visited._ ” Keith smiled.

“ _Haw-haw yeah! Razzle-dazzle time!_ ” Lance yelled, randomly posing in Keith’s com-image. “ _For the war effort, of course._ ”

“ _Nice bail._ ” Jeff smirked.

“Well, might as well get to work.” Shiro smiled. “Admiral Faust, can you and Coran set everything up?”

“Well, if Minister Raible’s computer usage is any indication, I’d say he’s already way ahead of me.” the Diplomatic admiral smirked at his new officer.

“I’m afraid the admiral’s right.” Coran smiled, twisting his mustache. “And I know _just_ where to start.” As it turned out, that starting point was at planet Debinia in erecting a field-hospital.

And it was completed by Voltron and V-15 placing a final column in the power generator. “Alright, that’s the last one.” Keith noted. “This hospital should be seeing a lot of traffic from around the sector soon.”

“ _That’s just step one in helping our soldiers._ ” Coran smiled over the coms. “ _Set ‘em down and come on in; time to go to work._ ” And the crews did exactly that; they parked their Guardians outside and made their way to the amphitheater and put on a little show for the patients at the hospital… which bombed spectacularly.

So the air force general suggested a show-of-arms parade across the planet, which everyone quickly agreed to, leaving Coran behind alone… or so they thought. “Howdy there friend. You look like you could use a hand.” Coran was surprised to see an Unilu in what looked like civilian clothes hiding in a corner.

“Do I know you?”

“Nah, my crew and I try to keep a low profile. But we’re not here to talk about me.” the Unilu smirked. “I saw that show of yours; man, what a shipwreck.”

“Yeah, I dunno what I was thinking.” Coran looked at his uniform’s purple cuffs and sighed. “Maybe I’m not cut out for Diplomatic Corps. I suppose I could always transfer to the science division; I know enough.”

“Why bother when you can just _do_ things better _without_ thinking?” the Unilu handed him a small pill. “This here’s a mind enhancer; I picked them up on Incarus-3. I dunno exactly how they work, but apparently, if you pop one under your pillow tonight, you’ll wake up with so many great and crazy ideas, you won’t know what to do with ‘em all.” Coran was definitely tempted, but then the Unilu clenched his fist around the pill. “2000 credits.”

Coran recoiled at that as he put on his “Unilu bargaining face”, as he called it. “Would you take a used left shoe?”

“I’ll accept the white bayard.”

“How ‘bout a dozen nose hairs?”

“I’ll take your left arm, plated in luxite.”

“A firm handshake and a pat on the back then?”

“I get to ride on your shoulders for a year!”

“ **Well, how about I give you 150 credits and don’t tell the Marines you’re running an illegal swap-shop in a military field hospital?!** ”

“ **DEAL!!** ” With that, the pill and money swiftly switched hands and the Unilu traipsed away happily.

Finally Ginger opened the door and poked her head in. “Hey Coran, you comin’ or what?”

“Oh yes-yes, I’m right with you.” he said calmly, walking out. “Oh by the way, there’s an Unilu in there running an illegal swap-shop in the back.”

“What?! Guards!” Coran laughed to himself as he watched Ginger charge in after the dealer himself.

Days later, the fleet arrived at Swathi-7 for the next stop on their tour. “Starfleet air-show, here we come!” Coran announced.

“Please tell me you booked a larger venue this time.” Lance groaned as the fleet landed. Unfortunately, his hopes were dashed by Chip’s transmission.

“ _I don’t think these are the best conditions for a show._ ” he said. “ _The atmosphere here is hardly likable._ ”

Suddenly the fleet was hailed by someone else; presumably a local Swathian. “ _Well, if it isn’t the Coalition; a day late and a fertronium short._ ”

“Friendly sort, aren’t they?” Keith whispered.

“Is there a problem?” asked Shiro.

“ _‘Is there a problem’? Yes, yes there is a problem!_ ” the Swathian yelled. “ _You were supposed to be here yesterday! It was the **one day** out of the year our skies are clear. All the other 720 days are like this!_”

“Ohh yeah, sorry about that. That’s on Coran.” Lance shrugged. “Coran thought we could get here faster if we cut through that nebula about a lightyear back. Turns out he was wrong.” He noticed the others glaring at him and stood to defend himself. “Hey, in my defense, he forgot to mention the place was full of Neebray mantas!”

“ _Oh, you made a mistake? The entire planet was out of their burrows for Clear-Day, just waiting. ‘Where’s Voltron?’, they kept asking._ ”

“Okay-okay, tha-that’s on me.” At this point, it was getting awkward and heated… until they all felt something banging against the Castle.

“What was that?!” asked Shiro.

Sam quickly pulled up the feed of the right ventral-nacelle tower to see a large beast bashing against it. “ _It’s a Swathian meerakeet. They show up on the surface every day of the year except one. Guess which day?_ ”

“I am really starting to not like this guy.” Jeff whispered to Captain Newley.

“Relax guys, I skimmed the file on these things; they chase any beam of light.” Rocky smirked, projecting a light from the _Explorer_ ’s bow away from the fleet. “I’ll lead him away, then we leave.” And indeed, the meerakeet left to chase the light as the fleet quickly took off.

Once out in space, Admiral Sanda contacted the Castle from the JTS’ command ship _GCS Washington_. “ _I have to say Minister, so far this whistle-stop tour of yours hasn’t been good for the Coalition’s image for the rebels._ ”

“I know Admiral, I’m sorry.”

“Me too Coran, but I’m with Ellen on this one.” Shiro nodded. “If we want to expand the Coalition in the short amount of time we have, we can’t afford these sorts of mistakes.”

“Yeah, that last show _did_ kinda make me nostalgic for Nagasaki.” Lance muttered. “Sorry man, but I don’t know if you’re cut out for Diplomatic duty, much-less managing this whole thing.”

“ _I’m sorry to say so Minister, but I agree._ ” Admiral Faust shrugged.

“Please everyone, just give me one last chance. I promise I can turn this around for us.” Coran pled.

Sanda and Faust looked at Archer, who sighed. “ _One chance. If it doesn’t work out, you’re relieved of duties as commander of this mission and Admiral Faust and her staff will take over._ ”

Coran, determined to keep his first assignment to himself, resolved to use the brain enhancer he bought on Debinia, blissfully unaware of what if actually was; the egg for some sort of alien-worm which climbed up into his ear and attached itself to his brain.

The next morning, the whole fleet arrived a familiar planetoid and Pidge was very unamused by what she saw. “It’s official. We’ve hit rock bottom.” And indeed; they were in the alien mall right next to the Unilu swap they first visited.

“Yeah, I dunno if _this_ is the best place to get our message out to the widest audience.” Keith shrugged.

“Keith, baby, you’re right.” Jeff’s face scrunched as he heard Coran talking like this; only complete asshole Hollywood agents talked like this. “And I want what you want, man.” Then he started zipping around. “But I’ve had some epiphanies, some ideas, some real-eye-zations.” Pidge and Chip cringed at that pronunciation; it hurt the grammar-nerd in their souls. “What we have to do is broadcast a show across an entire galaxy.”

Sanda glanced at Faust and shrugged. “That might actually work.”

“Not just ‘might’ work, Admiral. It _will_ work. We could reach the largest viewership in the history of intergalactic showbiz.” Okay, now everyone was getting wigged out by Coran.

Except Lance; he was into it. “Aw-haw yeah, baby! Let’s do it!”

“ _But_ we need to workshop some things before we can take it to the next level.” Coran resolved before zipping over to Pidge and Chip. “You with me, guys?”

Chip raised an eyebrow in concern. “You seem… different.”

Coran just chuckled. “I think you mean ‘better’.” This only prompted Shannon to crack out the medical scanner, just in case. “Look, it’s my job to make sure our message really _sings_.” Then he squished himself into the faces of both Lance and Ginger. “ _Beautiful_ aliens from here to Vlexlar will know your names.” Then he zipped over to Archer. “And your Coalition will put the Imperial Armada to shame.”

Hunk shrugged. “Well, it rhymes. So it’s gotta be true.”

“What sorta system of logic is that?” Lisa whispered.

Bethany just sighed. “Ah hell. What’ve we got to lose?”

“There ya go Bethy. See, we got this.” That got the president angry, but Coran didn’t seem to notice.

It didn’t take too long for Coran to set up a stage in the center of the mall with himself and the Paladins behind the curtain along with the whole rest of the fleet on holo-coms.

“Okay, we’ve got the air-show down, which is great. But we need to add a theatrical element to expand.”

“What’d you have in mind?” Sven almost knew he would dread this answer, but he asked anyway for some reason.

“The hospital performance was a disaster-”

“Your words.” Daniel shrugged.

“But I think it can work if you follow my guidelines, guys.” And thus, he listed them. “Rule number one, never walk onto stage, alright? Ya gotta leap onto stage, roll onto stage. I’m talking _explode_ onto stage!”

Lance was obviously into it, but Keith was less convinced. “I’m sorry, are we the military or Cirque de Soleil?” he asked seriously.

“Who says we can’t be both?” Lance shrugged. Admittedly, the show went pretty well as the crowd cheered for the crew as they went back behind the curtain.

“At least the crowd stayed until the end this time.” Pidge shrugged.

“Gotta admit, that actually worked great.” Keith smirked.

“Yeah kid, you’re trending galaxy-wide. I mean, you’re a four-quadrant hit. Your plus-sevens are plus ten!” Coran smirked.

Admiral Sanda scoffed. “Oh please, it was one show in a _mall_. How could they be-?” Suddenly she was interrupted by her coms officer on the _Washington_ calling her, and what he said apparently surprised her. “Huh. How about that? I just got a call from the leader of a star-system in this galaxy’s Delta Quadrant saying they want to join us. And apparently there are similar calls coming in from all over the rest of the galaxy.”

“And that’s just the beginning!” Coran smiled as he laughed. Though Shannon noticed a weird twitch in his right eye and he didn’t know what to think.

Instead, it was on to the next planet; Izazuno-4 on the other side of the border. And for some reason, Coran had hired a weird snake-like alien who only spoke in three sounds as an assistant. “Alright, you heard Bii-Boh-Bi. Five minutes. Let’s go! Places!”

Once he left, Shannon just looked around at the others. “That lad is right-f**ked in the head.” he said to no-one in particular.

But either way, no one could really argue with what was up next for them that night; an ice show. It was humiliating, but it worked. And so did almost all the rest of Coran’s plans; a soap-opera with Keith and Allura in the starring roles, writing new personas for the whole crew, things like that. But the better they seemed to work, the crazier (and more “Space-Hollywood”, as Jeff put it) Coran seemed to get, and he wouldn’t hold still long enough for Shannon to get a real medical scan done.

Finally, several planets and ridiculous schemes later, things finally got more serious with a Guardian Force battle performance in an arena on Tetune-3. “Alright people, remember; this one is going out across the universe. Last piece of the puzzle gets locked in now. So let’s make our last appearance our best one.” Shiro ordered.

“I must say I’m worried about Coran.” Allura noted.

Cliff just blew a raspberry. “Lad’s just a banger or two short of a barbie. Give ‘im a week; he’ll figure that out.”

Then Bii-Boh-Bi slid in. “Bi-boh, bi-boh-bii.” And then he slid out.

“We have universal translators and literally none of us have any idea what that guy says at all.” Lance said seriously. “Like, am I the only one bugged by that?”

“Look, let’s just get this over with.” Keith groaned. “This whole thing is driving me crazy.” Hard to say no to that; the show went on. And it was admittedly awesome; aliens dressed as Ultra-Black Corps charged in and the whole Guardian Force defeated them in ridiculously over-the-top and stagey manners.

Then things got weird; the floor started rumbling. “Uh… you guys felt that too, right?” Sven was off-script for this one.

But not everyone followed along. “Yeah, what the hell is that?” Jeff asked.

“Whatever it is, it’s big and it’s headed this way.” Lance smirked. “I say we get serious.”

“Fine by me.” Keith smiled, getting on the coms. “Admiral, send in the Guardians!”

“ _Dropping now._ ” Sanda quickly dropped Voltron and V-15 into the arena from the ship overhead and the pilots quickly took them over as they posed for battle. But then things got confusing; when the hatch that was supposed to have the fake Robeast in the show opened, something landed on it.

“What the hell?” Keith was right to ask; it was another Swathian meerakeet.

“Okay, either Bii-Boh-Bi has seriously upped his special effects game or there is something terribly wrong.” Pidge noted.

“A new star is born! Time to steal the show!” That was definitely Coran, but he was completely unhinged and standing on top of the meerakeet itself with laser pointers. Clearly Bii-Boh-Bi just went with it as he hit several colored lights around the arena and made the beast run around in insanity, knocking Coran straight into the booth with him. Thankfully, this impact partially dislodged the brain-worm and allowed Coran some semblance of sense back.

The Guardians were having fun with the beast and threw it around the arena like they were just there to have fun. But then somehow, it fired off some sort of sonic weapon which blasted into the ground right between Voltron and V-15. “I don’t think we rehearsed this!” Cinda yelled.

“Who cares?! The crowd’s lovin’ it!” Lance bellowed.

Coran apparently cared as he saw just enough of the fight to realize he’d screwed up. “Ugh. Must help Guardians!” But then he started switching between that and… “Must put on the biggest spectacle in the history of the universe!” Bii-Boh-Bi approached to see if he was alright, but things just got weird. “Get away, Bii-Boh-Bi! You’ll ruin the show!” Switch. “Help me, Bii-Boh-Bi! You’re my only hope!”

That comment wasn’t exactly heard, but it made Lance freeze for a second. “What’s up?”

“I just felt a disturbance in the Force. As if someone just made an original trilogy _Star Wars_ reference without even realizing it.” he said.

Either way, Bii-Boh-Bi quickly listened as he jammed one of his tiny arms into Coran’s brain and plucked out the brain-worm and stuck it in a vial for examination later. Quickly, Coran jumped on the fleet-wide coms.

“ _Guardians, that meerakeet you’re fighting is real!_ ” he yelled. “ _I know because I brought it!_ ”

“Wait, what?!” asked Jeff.

“Why would you give us an actual monster to fight?!” Allura asked, just as the beast knocked Voltron to the ground.

“ _A brain-worm talked me into it! And yes, I’m aware of how crazy that sounds out-loud; I’ll explain later._ ” Coran promised.

“Wait-wait-wait, so this isn’t just really epic special effects?” asked Hunk.

“Apparently not- Pidge, shield!” Keith ordered as the sonic roar fired again. The shield rose just in time to intercept. “Jeff, take it!”

“On it! High beams!” Jeff ordered, causing lasers to be fired out of V-15’s right-hand headlights right into the beast, but it was barely even fazed.

“Direct hit; no effect!” Chip yelled.

Then Keith got an idea. “I have a crazy idea. Might not work, but bear with me; we can use the lights on that hover-screen up there to lure it away. Then _Excalibur_ can grab it in a tractor beam and take it home.”

“ _I like it._ ” Sanda nodded. “ _Do it!_ ”

“I’ve got this!” Allura noted as she boosted Keith’s jump to flip-kick the hover-screen away, causing the meerakeet to run away after it right into _Excalibur_ ’s tractor beams before it flew away.

The crowd went nuts over this display as the Guardians waved… but things got heated back at the fleet. “ _Whew._ Sepenidon delusionus. _Nasty little bugger; latches onto humanoid brains and makes the owners go crazy with whatever matters they’re engaged with._ ” Shannon reported. “ _We’re just lucky it didn’t make Coran call Zarkon for an **actual** Robeast._”

“I’m so sorry, guys. I never should’ve trusted that Unilu.” Coran noted. “Looking back, it looks like a blatantly bad decision.”

“Yeah. Worm-pills? Gross.” Lance groaned.

“Not as gross as the worms in _Wrath of Khan_.” Wolo brought up.

Lance gagged. “Dude, do _not_ remind me of _Wrath of Khan_ right now.”

“I didn’t mean to take us this far off-mission, Admiral. I swear.” Coran continued.

“ _Well, normally I’d yell at you and then cashier you from the service, but believe it or not, that worm actually made our job easier._ ” Ellen noted, bringing up Ozar’s map from earlier that week, but there was much more green. “ _The Coalition is bigger than ever._ ”

“Wait, seriously?” Hunk was reasonably surprised.

“This actually worked?” Lance asked, but just started laughing in happiness.

The happiness was short-lived though as _somehow_ Bii-Boh-Bi had made it onto the bridge of the Castle and was admiring the map as well. And Coran got mad. “Bii-Boh-Bi! What’ve I told you about interrupting when I’m talking to the talent?!” Bii-Boh-Bi left after that and Coran smiled to the blank expressions of the whole war council.

“ _Fire that guy and I’ll personally promote you to ensign._ ” Bethany ordered.

“Done and done! Thanks Bethy!”

“ _Also, quit it with the ‘Bethy’ thing. Only my mother calls me Bethy._ ”

“Got it; sorry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thus begins the Renegade Arc (53-62)


	54. Commencement

Weeks later near Olkarion, the planets, and systems who agreed to join the Coalition had been legally allowed in and even more systems had rebelled and joined the militia.

It was at another meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the _Washington_ , which had linked up with the Castle of Lions and the _Explorer_ that Shiro and the Guardian Force learned what the main plan for the whole war was. “ _Practically the entire Imperial fleet has been mobilized,_ ” Marmora reported over the holo-com. “ _Zarkon seems fairly dead-set on finding Lotor._ ”

“Which means it’s only a matter of time before he finds him and gets the Empire back in order.” General Hammond nodded. “We need to take advantage as soon as we can.”

“What’re you saying, Jackson?” asked Admiral Ford.

“I’m saying that now is the best possible time for Operation: Thermopylae,” Hammond smirked.

Allura seemed confused. “‘Thermopylae’?”

“It’s a massive battle from ancient Earth history,” Keith remembered. “7,000 Greeks under the command of Leonidas I against Xerxes’ 300,000 Persians. Their sacrifice is what led Greece to unite and win the Greek-Persian War.”

Shiro was in disbelief as he realized what Hammond was getting at. “Jack, you’re not saying?”

“Damn right I am, Commodore,” Hammond smirked. “I’m callin’ for a full-frontal assault on the Empire!”

“I concur.” Admiral Blackwell stood and brought up Ozar’s universal map from before. “Thanks to this intel gathered by the Blades, Militia observers, and Starfleet Intelligence, combined with the Holts’ tracking software, we have the most detailed map of Imperial space in Coalition history.”

“To be fair Admiral, that’s not sayin’ much since we didn’t even know the Empire existed three months ago.” Lance brought up.

“Still though,” Blackwell noted. She highlighted a line of several planets near the galactic-western end of the border. “Now, we’ve identified an intermittent line of allied planets that runs through the territory. As you can see, there’s only one Galra-occupied star-system left in that line.”

“The Naxzela system,” Coran noted. “I see where we’re going with this; we take Naxzela and strengthen the line, we cut everything behind it from Command and use the position to move in and destroy them.”

Jeff gave an impressed whistle. “This would mean we could take back a third of the Empire in one move.”

“So what exactly _is_ the plan, General?” asked Sven.

“Fairly straightforward,” Hammond smirked. “We split up the military and attack several locations across the region, all at once,” Lance smirked as well; he liked where this was going and so did the rest of the crew. “First order of business; cut off communications to Command so no one can call for help. We’ll need to disable this satellite relay station in orbit over Vantax-5.”

“Pidge and I can handle that.” Hunk nodded.

“I’m afraid not, Garret.” Hammond shrugged. “This mission is for Strato Team and the 101st Airborne.”

“Ho-ho yeah! Screamin’ Eagles!” Jeff laughed, high-fiving his squad… before they all got serious again.

“ _We’ll also need to worry about the Zaiforge cannon outposts._ ” Marmora reminded, displaying massive Death Star-like plasma cannons on the briefing hologram.

“Of course; these new Galra defense systems just came online a few days ago and they can strike any target within our combat theater,” Hammond noted. “The first one is in high orbit around Naecarro and will be attacked by an allied front between Air Force squadron Alpha-35 and Militia forces under Captain Olia here.” A male Canite stepped forward and saluted, along with James Griffin from the Garrison. “Marmora, you’ll lead a strike-force consisting of Blades and MARSOC units against the second cannon, here in the mountains of Senfama, vulnerable to a covert ground attack.”

“ _Understood._ ” Marmora nodded, before smirking. “ _Keith, would you care to join us on this mission?_ ”

“I’d love to. But Voltron needs its head." Keith smirked.

“I should probably be the one to ask;" said Sven. "What’s the aim of attacking these cannons?”

“Operation: Thermopylae calls for us to commandeer them and use the Empire’s own firepower against them,” Sanda smirked, taking over for Hammond. “Once all our forces have these targets neutralized, Imperial defenses will be weakened allowing the Army and Marines to reconquer the remaining occupied planets in this area.” All purple planets behind the main line turned blue to signify victory. “And while they’re taking control of the planets, the attack on the Naxzela system will already be underway.”

“Who’ll be leading the charge?” asked Jeff.

“The Guardian Force,” Ellen smirked.

Lance liked this. “Aw yeah! Team Defender’s gonna sweep in on Naxzela, form the Hyper-Roar Cannon and be all like ‘Pow! Pow! Pow!’. Easy-peasy, lemon squeezy.”

“Might wanna hold off on those ‘lemon-squeezies’, Lieutenant.” Admiral Ford brought up. “By all accounts, Naxzela will be a tough op; the Galra have had a lot of time to fortify it. This attack is gonna have to be fast enough to wipe out the occupational forces before they can radio Command. Cause if they call for backup, we’re as doomed as Leonidas.”

“I think we’ve got that covered,” Pidge smirked at Daniel, who had tagged along for the meeting along with Vince.

“ _If this operation succeeds, the Galactic Coalition will possess nearly half of the Imperial territory,_ ” Kolivan said, admittedly impressed. “ _It will be a legendary victory and a massive blow to enemy morale._ ”

“Not to mention an entire new wave of rebellions.” President Archer nodded.

“And if it doesn’t work, well then hey: as the Klingons would say; ‘Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam’,” Lance smirked.

Allura just raised an eyebrow. “Translation?”

Jeff gladly fielded that as he racked a shotgun. “‘Today is a good day to die’.”

“Well, no time to waste. All units to stations. Let’s move out!” Sanda ordered.

“Sir, yes sir!” Everyone bellowed before they left.

Unfortunately, the Coalition weren’t the only ones making plans. Lotor and his generals were as well, as they shot across the universe. “Ezor, Acxa, I’m sending you new coordinates. Set course there immediately.”

“ _Where are we going?_ ” asked Ezor.

“ _Does it matter? Follow my orders._ ” Ezor was confused so she cut his channel off and turned her coms to Acxa’s cockpit.

“ _What’re you doing?_ ”

“I don’t want him to hear us.” Ezor excused. “The emperor called him a renegade, Lotor’s on the run. So as his generals, that means we-”

“ _Must trust Lotor; exactly what I was going to say._ ”

“ _Okay, A; not what I was going to say, and B; what about Narti? She trusted him; look where that got her._ ”

“I am not Narti,” Acxa growled. “I never told you this Ezor but… when Zarkon declared war, the Drule Confederacy was the first to try and stand against him. My mother specifically, and Zarkon responded by dropping our house on top of her, my father, and me. I almost died that night, and I might have if Lotor hadn’t come down the day after the Drule surrender. He saved me, so I now owe him a life-debt.” Ezor was surprised. “Lotor will protect us.”

In the meantime, President Archer sent out a general subspace transmission on all their standard frequencies. “Citizens and allies of the Galactic Coalition; I am President Bethany Archer of Earth, asking all to come together. Friends and allies across the universe must come together in unity to bring this war with the Galra Empire closer to an end. With your help, we will have a real chance to turn the tide of the war. We all knew this moment would come, and we are better prepared now than ever. Let’s do this! Vive la liberté!”


	55. Operation: Thermopylae

Lightyears away, in an asteroid belt… “Sir, we’re approaching the target coordinates, but my scanners aren’t picking anything up,” Zethrid reported.

“ _They’re not supposed to,_ ” Lotor smirked. As the Sincline ships exited the asteroid belt, they saw some sort of wrinkle in the space-time continuum surrounded by a large rig.

“My Lord, what is this?” asked Ezor, genuinely curious.

Lotor smirked. “The Rift of Korrinoth.” The ships slowly approached the rift and were surprised.

“What is that?” Ezor asked, looking at the rig orbiting the rift.

“My father believed that King Alfor’s plan to blast the Voltron Crater on Korrinoth with a crude beta-radiation bomb and seal away the radiation that poisoned his mind and destroyed Raggah actually worked,” Lotor smirked. “No one could’ve comprehended that the experiments of her and my mother Honerva could never be undone. The beta-radiation didn’t seal the Rift; it simply blasted it out here into space. I had a secret labor-team construct this gravity net and dimensional portal to capture the rift here and stabilize it.”

“ _To what end?_ ” Ezor asked seriously.

“Because, just as my mother theorized Voltron was able to, I will pilot us through the rift and we will harvest pure, unlimited Energix from the space between dimensions.”

Acxa smiled. “I never doubted you, my prince.”

“I know.”

“ _So what, we just fly through that thing to another dimension?_ ” asked Ezor. “ _Sounds kinda sketchy._ ”

“It is. I haven’t actually had a chance to test the portal yet, but due to this most recent and rather unfortunate turn of events, my plans have accelerated.” The gateway activated as Lotor explained. “But if my calculations are correct, which they almost always are, by infusing the Sincline ships’ shields with concentrated Energix, we should be able to pierce the fabric of reality like a needle pierces cloth.” It seemed to work as both ships started glowing bright blue with the Energix, but then things got scary.

“My Lord, this is all the Energix we have left.” Zethrid reminded him.

“And I shall use it to reap an infinite amount more,” Lotor smirked. Unfortunately, that plan didn’t pan out; once the ship entered the portal, it was spat back out. Lotor let off a growling sigh. “It appears I forgot to account for something; I just don’t know what.”

At the shipyards on Olkarion, ships from all corners of the Coalition were loading up with soldiers and taking off.

And the Guardian Force was meeting with some old friends; Rolo’s crew. “I signed us up for the Militia after _Wellington_ fixed us up and brought us to Teq,” Rolo informed them.

“So we heard.” Hunk smirked, extending a hand. “Matt told us you’ve been helpin’ out in a lot of skirmishes. Glad to have you here.”

“Glad to be here. You guys really inspired us.” Rolo smirked right back as he took Hunk’s hand and shook it. It was only natural for Pidge to instantly bury the hatchet with Beezer because awesome robot.

Soon enough, it was time for Allura’s own address to the universe. Lance was on the camera. “Alright Allura, we go live in fifty seconds.”

“Are communications secure?” Shiro noted.

“Just dealt with.” Chip noted. “I used Aunt Colleen’s transponder encryption.”

“Always pays to have a family of tech geniuses around.” Coran smiled.

Allura was nervous but she smiled as she saw Keith and his mother nearby. Keith flashed her a thumbs-up which she returned. “3… 2… And we’re live.”

Allura took a deep breath and stood strong in front of the holo-camera, which came on and sent this message out to every square corner of the universe with the obvious exception of Imperial Space. “Citizens of the universe, I am Allura; Daughter of Alfor and Paladin of the Blue Lion of Voltron. If you are receiving this message, it is because you have pledged to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with us in our war against Emperor Zarkon’s enslavement of the free peoples of the universe. But that enslavement, I assure you, is about to be dealt a crushing blow.

“The time for a full-scale assault on the Galra Empire has come. Centuries from now, when they speak of this day, they will speak of our sacrifices but they shall also remember this as the day that freedom began to overtake universal tyranny. You all know your missions. You all know what to do. And now, you shall all know the creed of the Earth army in whose honor we have named this mission;”

She projected her holo-shield from her armor, but this time it was in the form of a Spartan shield. “‘This is my shield. I bear it before me into battle, but it is not mine alone. It protects my brother on my left. It protects my city. I will never let my brother out of its shadow, nor my city out of its shelter. I will die with my shield before me facing the enemy’. May the Fates guide you well. We’ll see you on the other side.”

With that, the transmission ended and after a kind and proud round of applause from those present, some simple goodbyes and a few utterances of “don’t get killed”, Operation: Thermopylae began.

The Strato Fighter, cloaked thanks to Pidge sharing her tech with Chip, quickly closed on the relay satellite with the 101st Airborne Division in the hold. “ _Once you have that communications hub down, rally at the rendezvous point._ ” Admiral Sanda ordered. “ _We’re gonna need all hands on deck for this one._ ”

“Roger Admiral,” Jeff noted. “Alright Eagles, let’s do this.” This was met by a loud battle-cry from the hold. “Chip, how we doing on time?”

“By trajectory, the satellite should be in the dark zone in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1.” Once the satellite was in the dark zone, the Pilots left the Strato Fighter on autopilot in a synchronous orbit and bailed out along with the Screaming Eagles, landing perfectly on-board and inside just before it exited the dark zone.

The crew was fairly bored being stuck on a listening post but then the commander heard something bang and looked to the door to the command center… just in time for it to explode in and the Coalition Forces to run in, guns blazing. Sentries fell left and right, and just as the commander tried to get to the com panel, Rocky jumped from his post and landed on him with an audible belly-flop to the face.

“Whoo! Alright, nice job big guy!” Jeff smirked.

“Save the congratulations, boys.” Ginger reminded them. “Chip, hack-attack.”

“On it.” Chip easily ripped open the control panel and hacked into the system, setting a ghost signal to be transmitted to command. “Odysseus Squad to Olympus; Polyphemus is blind. The shades are free and off their chains, no other Cyclops the wiser. I’d say we’ve got about eight hours before they figure it out. Till then, nobody’s coming in or out.”

“ _Solid copy, Odysseus._ ” Sanda noted from “Olympus”; an orbital command post at Olkarion consisting of the _Washington_ , the Castle, and the _Explorer_ , all linked by docking-clamps and airlocks. “ _Apollo will monitor from Olympus so we know when the shades are gone. Rally at the rendezvous point._ ”

“Copy that,” Jeff noted before he stood up. “Alright, you heard the Admiral; let’s move!”

Elsewhere, the _Beehive_ -class aircraft carrier _GCS Hornet_ had arrived outside the Naecarro System and stood ready to launch a full battalion of MFEs and a fleet of militia battle-transports, some of them even carrying Marines. Unfortunately, as soon as they launched and _Hornet_ warped out of the system, the cannon’s crew detected the fleet. “Commander, we’re reading a massive fleet of Coalition fighters entering the system.” a soldier reported.

“Excellent.” the female commander smirked. “Arm all defense systems and ready the main cannon.”

Griffin was just having the time of his life as he and Olia led the charge into the system.

“You guys ready for this?” Olia asked.

“Ready as we’ll ever be.” Rolo shrugged.

“Alright people, let’s do this by the numbers. Engage targeting computers.” Griffin ordered, his readout quickly appearing on the cockpit of his fighter. “Leifsdottir, you, Williams, and Kinkade take your squadron down the left flank; Ravon, you, Rawley, and Petterson take yours down the right. Olia, you and Rizavi are with me; we’re going straight down the middle and taking the bridge. All wings, move out!” The flight-group quickly split up and flew to their designated attack points just as a massive fleet of fighters shot out of the post.

“Yee-haw!” Nadia Rizavi always was an adrenaline junkie; it was one of the main reasons she joined the Air Force. “Incoming, boys! Let’s have some fun!” What quickly followed would be easily remembered as a dogfight for the ages.

Especially as Olia’s ship was quickly surrounded by fighters… though they were quickly dispatched by a few double taps from Rolo. But then the surface turrets on the station started firing. “All wings, we need those turrets down if we’re gonna land!” Griffin ordered.

“ _Roger!_ ” replied Commander Ravon; an Amphibolid who quickly led his wing group into the area to start shooting out turrets, but nothing happened.

“Captain, there’s no way we can penetrate those shields!” Matt yelled.

“I’m inclined to agree. All wings, pull back!” Griffin ordered and led all the ships away… but too late; the central cannon barrel on the station revved up and suddenly fired, wiping out a third of the assault group, including Commander Ravon’s squadron. “Daedalus Squad to Perseus Squad, come in; our wings are losing feathers. How’s it going with Cetus?” No response. “Perseus Squad, respond!”

“ _Roger that, Daedalus. Cetus is goin’ belly-up. Just give us a minute._ ” Dorma responded as her squadron ran up the mountains on Senfama to the cannon, which simply stood there like a massive whale.

There were a few sentries, but they were nothing they couldn’t handle easily shish-kebabbed and blasted apart by the soldiers before they moved on the control room.

“Commander, we’re detecting a large mass entering the Naxzela system. Not one of ours.” a lieutenant reported.

“Contact Command.” the commander ordered.

“We already tried, sir.” said the gunner. “All communications appear to be down; our alerts aren’t getting through.”

“Arm the cannon. We must defend-” The commander’s speech was interrupted by a silenced blaster-shot through the head of his lieutenant. He was confused until Marmora suddenly backflipped over him and clubbed him in the face with the pommel of her sword. Then he was just unconscious.

“GC Marines! Everybody on the ground!” Obviously, the Major’s orders weren’t followed as the soldiers quickly moved to attack, but Dorma quickly kicked the gunner down from his post and the Marines started shooting until all that were left surrendered.

“Alright,” Dorma smirked as she grabbed the gun’s hard-light hologram trigger. “Let’s see what this puppy can do.”

“Perseus Squad to Apollo; Cetus is slain, Andromeda is safe.” The major reported.

“Roger that, Perseus.” Coran (aka Apollo for this op) noted before turning to the JCSs. “Achilles Squad’s attack is underway.”

Achilles Squad was, of course, played by the Guardian Force who had just made one hell of an entrance as they landed on the surface of Naxzela in full-Guardian Form (after the Strato Team let the Screaming Eagles off on a transport ship, of course) by shooting down a massive chunk of the atmospheric defense armada.

Then Voltron looked down at the ground and smirked at the few officers at his feet. Keith smirked in the cockpit. “You have 30 seconds to run before I step on you.” Naturally, they all listened and ran for the nearest structure safe from Voltron’s foot. “Good choice. Alright, people, remember; this is our only chance to take Naxzela, so let’s make it count!”

Unfortunately, Daedalus Squad was still losing ships as the cannon fired on their ships. “We can’t handle this flack for much longer! Matt, please tell me you’ve traced the source of this cannon’s shields!” Griffin ordered.

“Yeah, and you’re never gonna believe it,” Matt replied. “The Galra have gone full _Revenge of the Sith_ with this plan; the shield generator is in a compound on the surface, but the compound’s got its own shield.”

“ _Can Perseus Squad use their cannon to take it down?_ ” asked the Kressite officer on Matt’s ship.

“Worth a shot.” Matt shrugged. “Daedalus to Perseus, come in. Our wings are about to fall apart, we need help. I’m setting a signal-fire; point Medusa’s gaze at it.” Quickly, he dropped a tracer probe at the compound which started pinging.

“It’s gonna take them a while to get trained on their target,” Olia noted. “We need cover, now!”

“ _I believe I’ve found some,_ ” Leifsdottir reported. “ _All remaining wings, form up behind the large asteroid bearing 195-mark-326 from my location._ ” It didn’t take the squadron long to find the asteroid she was talking about and all group up behind it, firing indiscriminately at any Galra fighters that got too close.

Unfortunately, it was fish in a barrel for the cannon-commander to line up the cannon and charge to fire, leaving all the wings to pray that Matt’s transmission made it through.

On Naxzela, the Guardian Force was going ham on the compound and defense fleet, slashing down buildings and blasting battle-cruisers out of the sky. “Voltron, cruiser at your high-three!” Cliff called out.

“Got it!” Daniel yelled and boosted Voltron out of the way just as the hyper-ion cannon on that battle-cruiser fired, sweeping the ground.

They were just about to go after it when something exploded on their back, knocking everyone around in the cockpit. “What was that?!” yelled Allura.

“Hell if I know; I didn’t see any-” Lance couldn’t finish as something else exploded right off the red arm. Both Guardians tried to get their bearings, but every time they tried, something exploded next to them and knocked them around.

Finally, Keith got angry. “WHAT’S HITTING US?!”

“Recalibrating sensors,” Pidge reported and her findings were less than ideal. “Hover-mines. Thousands of them. And they’re all cloaked.”

“Shield! SHIELD!” Vince yelled. Pidge quickly raised the shield just in time to intercept a hyper-ion blast.

“Can we get outta here without hitting any, Pidge?!” asked Keith.

“The sensors can _detect_ the mines, but there are just too many for us to safely maneuver through them,” Pidge reported.

“Confirmed.” Chip reported. “And with the cruisers covering all possible exits, there’s no way we’re getting outta here. We’re trapped.”

Then Sven was presented with a control conduit with a bayard-lock like in his Speeder. “I think I have an idea.” If this lock worked anything like the one in his speeder, this plan would work perfectly. With one strong movement, the weapon locked into Voltron’s systems and a cold vapor started falling from his hands. “If we freeze the mines, that might give us a little time before detonation.”

“And we use that time to get the heck outta here; I like it!” Lance nodded.

“Worth a shot! Let’s hit it!” Keith quickly locked Voltron and V-15’s backs before they spun, plasma-roar cones shooting out of Voltron’s hands and freezing everything around them, decloaking the mines as they spun. “NOW! Go-go-go-go-go!” Quickly, both Guardians flew out of the minefield just before they all exploded safely. “Nice call, Sven!” The Viking just saluted as he unlocked his bayard. “Now let’s get this place secure and go home! Form Blazing Sword!”

“Engage Nitro Sword!” Both knights now held their blades strong as they flew into battle.

Unfortunately, not everything was going to plan as Lotor and his generals were not on an asteroid orbiting the Rift, Lotor still confused as to what went wrong. “I warned you, girls. All of Lotor’s plans have failed.” Ezor said simply.

“You’re right; he’s likely to turn on us as soon as it’s in his best interest.” Zethrid agreed. “We have to strike first.”

“If we turn him over to Zarkon now, maybe he’ll show us mercy,” Ezor suggested.

“Either way, we have to take him down. It’s our only shot.” Acxa knew her fellows were right. But she knew she had to be the one to pull the trigger.

So she would; she simply walked forward pistol in-hand and pointed it at Lotor’s head as he turned to her. “For Narti.” Once the bolt left her gun, Lotor fell to the ground of the asteroid.

“Is he dead?” asked Zethrid.

“No, just stunned,” Acxa noted. “The Empire always pays more if you bring criminals alive. Now help me secure him; let’s make this quick and painless.”

Meanwhile, on Senfama, Dorma was still getting the hang of the Zaiforge cannon’s controls as she tried to train it on the target. “Cmon, cmon, where is it?” Finally, she found the tracking probe’s signal and smirked. “Gotcha. Firing!” One pull of the trigger and the cannon roared to life, blasting across hundreds of parsecs straight to Naecarro… and clean through the compound’s shields, blowing it off the face of the planet and disabling the Senfama cannon.

“Target’s shields are down, Captain!” Matt reported.

“Alright then, let’s do this!” Griffin yelled. “Rizavi, care to lead the way?”

“Thought you’d never ask! CHARGE!!!” The fighters all flew as fast as they could to the cannon and secured it with minimal effort left, erecting a particle barrier around it with portable generators. “Daedalus Squad to Olympus; we’re flying free. The skies are clear!”

“Hoo-hoo! Nice work, boys!” Coran smiled. “All other squadrons, the Gods are on your side! Do what you do best!”

“Copy that, Olympus!” An army Colonel on another planet laughed. “Let’s give ‘em hell, boys!” Firefights erupted across the galaxy with more and more planets on the galactic map turning blue.

“Congratulations everyone, we’ve almost won this battle!” Admiral Ford cheered, rousing another volley of cheers from the crew.

But it wasn’t all champagne and smiles for Lotor as he woke up on his ship, hands cuffed behind his back and with his generals in command. “What is the meaning of this? Where are you taking me?”

“Forgive us, Lord Lotor. Nothing personal, you understand. This is our only way out.” Zethrid explained.

“ _You plan to surrender me to my father. I understand, Zethrid. I’d probably do the same if our roles were reversed._ ” Lotor shrugged. “You do what you must, and I’ll do the same.” And apparently in this situation, doing what he must implied breaking his arms in such a way as to get his hands in front of him before he broke the cuffs and pressed the eject button, launching Zethrid out of his ship before he warped away.

Thankfully, Zethrid managed to land on the other Sincline ship, but she was fairly sour about what just happened. “Well, there goes our bargaining chip. We’re as dead as Lotor.”

“What do we do now?” asked Ezor.

“The only thing we _can_ do,” Acxa said vaguely.

Unfortunately, just as the JCSs were cracking out the champagne on Olympus, an alert came up which Coran quickly noticed. “Ah, quiznak! All units, the communications satellite is back online; Galra distress signals are getting through!”

“What?! Scramble the fleet; cover our assets!” ordered Sanda.

“ _No need, Admiral,_ ” Keith reported. “ _Even if back-up gets here now, they’re too late. Naxzela is practically ours._ ”

Unfortunately, there was one thing Starfleet hadn’t counted on: Haggar. One of her druids quickly came to inform her of what was happening. “Naxzela is under attack. Voltron and the Coalition have just conquered a third of the Empire.”

Haggar smirked sinisterly. “Good.” Starfleet couldn’t have known this, but Haggar’s cruisier was en route to Naxzela right then, and no one would like what it would do there.


	56. Danger Close

The Joint Chiefs of Staff were already enjoying their impending victory, but Coran and Admiral Sanda were still admittedly concerned as Naxzela still blinked between purple, green, and blue. “All Galra planets engaged have been pacified, if not totally liberated.” Admiral Ford smiled at his officer’s report…

But then an alarm went off on the _Washington_ ’s bridge, which ruined the party. “Report,” Sanda ordered.

“Sensors are detecting another enemy battle-cruiser approaching Naxzela, but this one’s a lot bigger.” An officer responded.

“Naecarro Cannon Base, did you hear that?” Ellen asked.

“ _Loud and clear, Admiral,_ ” Matt responded. “ _We just cleared Sectors Zar to Niofomor. Attempting target-lock on the cruiser._ ” Then something unexpected happened; all the controls on the outpost deactivated, leaving only life-support and artificial gravity.

“Daedalus Squad to Perseus Squad, we’ve lost all cannon operations,” Griffin reported. “Can you get a line on the cruiser?”

“Negative,” Dorma growled. “We just lost all our power too.”

“ _That cruiser must’ve deactivated them remotely._ ” Coran theorized.

“Doesn’t matter. We just lost our aces in the hole.” Sanda reminded. “I want all available ships at Naxzela ASAP. Commander Kogane, do you copy?”

“ _We’ve been listening in._ ” Keith nodded in the cockpit as the Guardians bashed their way across the planet. “But don’t worry; if I’m right, that cruiser’s gonna be too late. We’ve almost secured Naxzela. We just need the last of the heavy artillery and atmospheric defense fleet down.”

Then Daniel saw something, another hyper-ion cannon charging pointed at V-15. “Jeff, watch your left-flank!”

“Shield!” Jeff’s order was quickly followed when a plasma-shield projected from V-15’s left hand, intercepting the blast just in time. The pilots were groaning as they tanked the blast, but Jeff, Cliff, and Krik smirked as they swung the shield in such a way as to bounce the blast back to sender, blasting the ship that fired it out of the sky.

“Yee-haw!” Lance laughed as the Guardians flew through the blast. Then they formed the Hyper-Roar Cannon and V-12 Cannon before firing indiscriminately at anything and everything in their way, incinerating nearly all the remaining Galra infrastructure.

But they wouldn’t be having this fun for long as Haggar’s cruiser was nearly at Naxzela. “There’s never been such a devastating attack on the Empire in five thousand years.” noted a lieutenant.

“We left ourselves vulnerable, Lieutenant Skall. And now we face overwhelming resistance.” said the ship’s captain. “What do we do, High Priestess? Shall we attack now, or await orders from the Emperor?”

“Emperor Zarkon is busy leading the hunt for the prince, Captain Ladnok,” Haggar noted. “We can handle this on our own. Helm, maintain course to Naxzela and increase speed.”

“Yes, High Priestess.” nodded the helmsman.

Unfortunately, Zarkon’s hunt for Lotor was just what the young prince was most worried about as he rocketed across the universe. Though he was a bit less worried now as he set his autopilot and relaxed in his chair… though this relaxation would soon stop as his Sincline ship passed a beacon on an asteroid.

“My Lord, one of the deep-space beacons just registered some activity not far from here. Shall I send a scouting party?” asked a commander.

Zarkon scowled under his armor. “Your scouts, Commander Trugg, will be little more than insects to Lotor. Scramble all fleets; pursue that beacon and destroy the target on sight.” It didn’t take long for this order to be followed as Lotor quickly began taking fire. Lotor did bis best to evade and shoot down his pursuers with nebulon-blasts, but he knew it was only a matter of time before he was captured. Quickly, he jumped to warp to try and evade capture easier, but the fleet just followed him.

“He’s en route to the Nahveer system; that star is highly unstable,” Trugg reported.

“If he honestly thinks we’ll be scared off by a few solar flares, he’s dead wrong. Stay close.” Zarkon ordered.

It was obvious as he left warp that wasn’t Lotor’s plan; he flew as close to the surface of the star as possible and as the Galra ships tried to follow him, they started burning up and a few fighters even exploded.

“The radiation is about to destroy the fleet’s entire navigation computer network,” Trugg reported. “We have to leave.”

“We still have our eyes. Maintain pursuit.” Zarkon growled. Lotor’s ship was getting a little too hot for comfort, as were several battleships as they started buckling under the assault of the star’s gravity, heat, and radiation.

“Cruiser 6 and Squadron Erto are both down. Our warp core containment fields are on the verge of collapse.” Trugg reported. “Sire, we’re too close to the star. The fleet can’t handle conditions like this for much longer. We have to leave, now!”

Zarkon growled in disdain as he said this, but he said it anyway; “Pull back.” An order Trugg was more than glad to abide by as the fleet retreated, losing more ships in the process.

Once Lotor was satisfied with this outcome, he pulled away as well and retreated as fast as he could. “The main engines on all remaining cruisers have overheated,” Trugg reported. “We cannot pursue until they’ve cooled down and reset. It should be at least twelve minutes.”

“Plot all courses along his last trajectory,” Zarkon ordered. “Wherever he goes, I want to know.”

Unfortunately, there was a lot to know around the universe as Haggar’s ship was drawing ever nearer to Naxzela, but then the crew received an unusual order. “All stop and hold this position. We should be close enough to Naxzela now.”

“Close enough for what?” asked Skall. “Voltron and V-15 have conquered the planet, and all our weapons are out of range at this distance.”

Haggar seemed to be paying no attention as she climbed into the turbolift. “We need to rally every available ship in this sector and prepare for a fight to the death,” Ladnok suggested.

Haggar still wasn’t paying attention as she made her way to the rig on the ship’s bow, which she had had specially prepared. A druid was waiting for her at the door. “If anyone attempts to disturb my ritual before Naxzela is destroyed, make their deaths long and painful.”

“Yes, High Priestess.” the druid responded as the doors closed behind the witch. She stopped in the middle and an alien magic circle activated around her, its light revealing her inner sanctum of four druids.

“Let the ritual begin.” The druids channeled all their magic into the circle, which Haggar called into herself to activate this weapon. “Awake, Naxzela!!!” Once the spell was complete, the magic flowed through the rig itself which activated a strange orb within the planet’s core.

An orb the Guardian Force was blissfully unaware of until they landed and felt a powerful earthquake. “Whoa! Did _we_ cause that tremor?”

“I don’t think so,” Cliff reported.

Then Vince saw something behind Voltron. “Guys, six o’clock!” Both Guardians looked and saw large pillars rising from the planet’s surface all around them.

“Uh Olympus, are you seeing this?” Lance’s question was fair, unfortunately.

And the answer was similarly fair. “Affirmative. We’re on our way.” Sanda nodded. “Alright; all units converge on Naxzela. For real this time, people; cmon let’s hustle!” The order was quickly followed as Olympus divided back into its components and flew toward the planet.

Though the Guardian Force was more concerned about the state of things right now. “I don’t think we’ve ever seen the Galra use this tech before,” Pidge remembered.

“What are they, weapons?” asked Jeff.

“Negative. Readings show they’re more like some sort of generators.” Chip noted.

“Generating what?” asked Lisa.

“Unclear, but we should stay alert,” Krik suggested.

“I vote we bail while we have the chance. Who knows what these things might do,” argued Lance. “Cinda, help me set a course for escape.”

“Stand down, McClain. We need to figure out what these things do.” Keith ordered.

“Well, I dunno about that but I’ll tell ya what I do know about them.” Cliff went over his readings with a scared look on his face. “They’re all over the planet.” And indeed, the surface of Naxzela was now covered in these strange generators… which suddenly activated, sending a massive force field throughout the planet’s atmosphere.

“This doesn’t look safe.” Hunk noted as the field closed.

Then Allura felt something; something strange. “Does anyone else feel that? That… wave of darkness?”

Suddenly she and everyone else was pulled down hard in their positions. Krik quickly got a reading and what he saw did not excite him. “That’s not darkness Allura; it’s gravity. The planet’s gravitational field strength just increased by 38%!”

“None of Yellow’s systems are functioning!” Hunk groaned.

“Yeah, my wheels won’t move either!” growled Hutch. Finally, the gravity got too extreme and both the Guardians were forced to their knees.

“Gravity strength is increasing even more! This keeps up, Voltron’s gonna be crushed like a tin can!” Pidge growled as she watched her readings.

Keith grunted as he struggled to keep Voltron’s head up. “Daniel, can you get me enough power to get Voltron out of the force-field?”

“I’ve already tried overclocking all the thrusters, but it’s not working!” Daniel groaned.

“Alright then. Everyone focus. Channel all the power you can into Voltron and maybe we can fight our way out of this field. Ready?”

“Ready!” everyone affirmed.

“Let’s go.” Voltron grabbed onto V-15’s hand and the two fired their thrusters at full power, sending them hurtling toward the force field… but they stopped about midway there as the metal started creaking.

“Uh-oh,” Lance said just before both Guardians started falling back toward the planet. “This is gonna _hurt!_ ” Everyone screamed in pain and fear as the Guardians were pulled down toward the surface before it ended with a massive crash. Lance was right; it _did_ hurt.

“Ugh! Anyone else mobile?” asked Shannon.

“Barely, but this gravitational field is destroying us,” Pidge noted. “Maybe if we get down to the surface, we can figure out how to deactivate this field.”

“Sounds fine on paper, until you account for the billion sentries that are probably still kickin’ around down there like cockroaches under the carpet!” Lance argued.

“It’s a gamble we have to take. We’ll leave the Defenders here.” Keith ordered, deactivating the control circle. “Maintain tight formation, have weapons at the ready, and watch each other’s backs! Let’s move out!” Everyone quickly listened and abandoned ship, leaping toward the edge of the compound through the intense gravity. Lance and Rocky laid down suppressive fire as they all leaped onto one of the generators. The Paladins all raised their shields as the Assault Force returned fire from the sentries. “Holts, Hunk, Krik, and Cliff; do your thing and do it fast!”

“Already on it!” Chip was way ahead of him, hacking into the generator’s systems. “Looks like these things go all the way to the planet’s core.”

“What? My scanners weren’t reading any sort of power source on this planet that could cause all this.” Cliff noted.

“We’ll have to do it the hard way,” Krik noted. “Follow it down to the core.”

“Better idea.” Pidge smiled, as a door opened in the wall. “Door’s open. Everyone in, now!” That order was quickly followed as all hands quickly filed in and dropped down a massive shaft inside toward the core. Once there, they found the orb Haggar activated and were in strange awe.

“This looks like one of those magnetic field generators the Coalition used to terraform Jupiter’s moons,” Wolo noted.

Allura cringed and the Paladins’ Defense Marks started glowing. “This is Haggar’s doing. That energy I felt… this is the source of it all.”

Jeff looked around and was confused. “You sure about that? Because this doesn’t look like Drule-tech. It almost looks… Altean.”

“I’m afraid you’re right Jeff,” Allura noted. “Naxzela was once an attempt at an Altean colony within Galra borders. My grandfather King Ramon first put forth the application for the colony to then-Empress Krai Soltorn over two hundred years ago. We attempted to terraform the planet to our specifications, but the alchemical terraforming drive; this device… malfunctioned and nearly destroyed the planet. Ever since, it’s been left to rust. Somehow the witch has managed to reactivate it remotely.”

“Think you shut it down?” asked Keith.

“I can certainly try. But be forewarned; I’m hardly the alchemist my father was.” Allura did try, extending her hand to the drive and allowing a portion of inner Altean magic to form in her hand and connect with the magic in the orb… violently, causing her to scream out in pain.

“Allura!” Quickly Keith and the other Paladins grabbed onto her and threw themselves to the ground away from the drive, breaking the connection and accidentally knocking over the V-15 Pilots. “You okay?”

“I- I’m- I’m fine.” Allura groaned. “It’s Haggar alright, but she’s far too powerful.”

Hunk groaned nearby as he pulled himself and Cliff to their knees… where Cliff noticed something about the soil. “I think I see why you Alteans wanted this place terraformed. The soil here is hardly conducive.”

Hunk looked too and was surprised; the soil was white and powdery. “Yeah, it’s weird. It’s like chalk-dust.” But then his helmet’s scanners detected something that terrified him. “It’s heximite!” Suddenly a battalion of sentries arrived and started opening fire on the pilots, causing all of them to dive for cover before returning fire.

“What the heck is heximite? Some of us might’ve slept through chemistry class!” Lance was obviously talking about himself.

“It’s a chemical compound that can explode if put under too much pressure,” Pidge remembered. “The terraforming drive must’ve accidentally created it from local minerals when it was first activated.”

Jeff’s face went pale. “Then the whole planet is a bomb?!”

“Big enough to wipe out at least several star systems.” Krik nodded. “Along with everything and everyone in them.”

“How much time have we got?” asked Keith.

“Twenty minutes, max. After that, ka-boom!” Hunk estimated.

“Think we can get a message out to the fleet from this deep?” asked Lance.

“Even if we did, they wouldn’t have enough time,” Vince noted. “Anything and anyone within ten star systems of Ground Zero, i.e. us, is going to get blown to cosmic dust!”

“That blast could destroy everything; Starfleet, the Blades, the militia, even Voltron and V-15 in one move!”

“No time to keep talking then.” Jeff nodded. “Let’s move!” Quickly, everyone ran through the room to the Defenders.

Meanwhile, on Senfama, Coran had just explained everything Starfleet knew so far to the Blades. “Maybe the Galra just decided it’s too well-fortified to attack,” Shiro suggested.

“Unlikely. Our race’s way is ‘Victory or Death’.” Marmora reminded. “We never halt an attack. Unless…” Her eyes popped. “Get us to that battlecruiser! We need to destroy it, now!”

Krolia clearly remembered as well as she quickly turned on the com-terminal in the castle. “Guardian Force, this is Krolia; do you read me? Voltron, come in! Keith! Something is definitely wrong.”

Coran clearly agreed as he began hailing them too. “Paladins? Princess? What’s happening down there?”

“I’m getting some abnormal readings coming from Naxzela,” Sam noted, watching the map. “Looks like its magnetic field strength has increased almost ten-fold.”

Now it was Coran’s turn to show insane fear. “Oh no. Marmora’s right; we have to go.”

“The Castle’s too slow; we’ll never make it in time,” Dorma argued. “We need a faster ship!”

“We can hijack a Galra fighter. Cmon!” Krolia quickly led the way to the landing pad just before the two shot out of the system with the Castle quickly on its tail. “Matt, come in. We can’t reach Voltron.”

“ _Kinda figured. Neither can I._ ” Matt replied. “ _We were just about to head out to Naxzela to check on them._ ”

“Negative. I need your squadron to attack that cruiser outside the Naxzela system. I can’t explain why now; just do it.”

“ _Wait, I thought that fleet stopped,_ ” Griffin asked.

“It did. But if I’m right, Haggar is using her magic and leftover Altean technology to make the planet itself detonate.” Krolia quickly explained. “Get to the cruiser and destroy anything that looks out of the ordinary.”

“ _On it._ ”

Elsewhere, Lotor was hiding in an asteroid belt in a star system several lightyears from Naxzela listening to Galra radio-chatter about the search for him. “ _Fighter Squadron Djalg-14, report._ ”

“ _Djalg-14 here. No sign of Lotor in this sector. Moving to Sector Everall-71._ ”

“ _Roger. Fighter Squadron Djalg-15, report._ ”

“ _Djalg-15 here. No sign of Lotor. Moving to Sector Rebulon-55._ ”

“ _Negative, Djalg-15; that zone is restricted._ ” This piqued Lotor’s interest. “ _I repeat, Sectors Rebulon-4 through Rebulon-69 are off-limits. We’re expecting a massive detonation soon that should wipe out everything in the quadrant. Stay out of the area._ ”

“ _Acknowledged. Moving to Sector Rebulon-70._ ” This was just the opportunity Lotor was looking for. Quickly, he set course to Naxzela; the planet at the epicenter of that restricted zone.

On Naxzela, the Pilots had just returned to the Defenders and those in the control-circles felt incredible pain as they were reactivated. “D-Damage report.” Keith strained.

“Power is down across the board 12% and over 60% of the bulkheads are bending inwards. Planetary gravitational field strength is at 185% of normal.” Pidge reported.

“Patch me through to the fleet!” Jeff ordered, and it was quickly followed. “Coalition Starfleet, this is Lieutenant Commander Jeff Dukane of Assault Force V-15. Naxzela is about to implode; everything within ten star systems will be destroyed in the blast. Fall back now!”

“Sorry sir, we can’t get the message out. The gravitational distortions are wreaking havoc on subspace coms.” Chip reported.

“Pidge, can you boost the signal?” asked Keith.

“I already tried; no effect,” Pidge reported. “Too much electrostatic repulsion.”

“Seventeen minutes and counting!” Hunk called. “We’ve gotta get outta here now!”

“Can we form the Warp Wings?” asked Lance.

“Not enough power!” Allura reported.

“Daniel, can we get off the planet without them?” asked Keith.

“Anything’s possible.” Daniel shrugged as the Defenders stood up… only for the ground to give way beneath them and send them falling even further down before they stopped. “Scratch that; we’re doomed.”

“Fifteen minutes left!” Cliff called, watching the clock.

“No, dammit! We’re not dying here!” Lance growled. “Not yet. Not today!”

“Listen, guys, we’ve all been through a lot with the big guys here.” Keith reminded. “We just have to focus.”

Then Lisa realized something. “Allura, you felt the dark energy when it first started, right?” Allura nodded. “That means you have some sort of connection to this magic; the same magic Raggah used to create Voltron. Maybe we can use that to empower Voltron and V-15 and get us out of here.”

“Yeah, we all saw what you did on the Balmera.” Lance agreed. “That might work.”

“I- I don’t know. My father wanted to train me but…” Now she just broke down crying. “Oh, Gods. Father! Please, help me! FATHER!”

Suddenly her Altean marks started glowing bright blue, and as if an answer to her prayers, a ghostly image of Alfor appeared before her, just like his AI appeared. “ _I’ve taught you all you need to know, my child,_ ” he said calmly. “ _And even then, you’re a prodigy. I never taught you to save a dying Balmera, but you achieved it. I never trained you to pilot Voltron, but look where you are now. I believe in you, my daughter. The Blue Lion chose you for a reason. You were the one who brought all of your friends together on this quest. I know you can do this. Every moment you’ve shared with your new crew; happy and sad, have all led to this day. This is your destiny, my child. You are the Heart of Voltron. Prove to the universe that that is a title you will not relinquish without a fight!_ ”

Allura smiled as her father faded, and her smile grew even bigger as she saw everyone smiling at her. “Thank you, Father. I’ll try.” With that, her seat disappeared in favor of a control-circle and she poured every ounce of her magic into it, making all of Voltron’s systems glow even brighter than before. A bolt even shot from the Green Lion into V-15 and re-energized _it_ as well.

“I think it’s working!” said Krik.

“No ‘thinking’ about it, Krik. All power levels have jumped lightyears beyond the theoretical maximum.” Cinda reported.

“Let’s put that power to good use,” Jeff smirked as he heard this new ability from V-15. “Engage Reality Boosters!”

“Form Warp Wings!” Keith yelled, and Voltron’s wings spread behind its back as a massive engine similar to a jet-liner’s appeared on V-15’s back.

One leap and both Defenders were instantly on the surface of the planet. “WOO! HA-HA-HA-HA!” Lance laughed happily. But they weren’t done; both Defenders flew full-tilt at the field and cracked it open like an egg-shell just by sheer force of momentum.

The crews all laughed and whooped at their success as Allura rested in her newly reformed seat. “Thank you, Father.”

Keith tagged out with Sven for control and smirked as he placed a hand on her shoulder. “That was all you, Princess.”

“We still need to stop the detonation.” Hunk reminded as the Defenders flew toward the system’s Oort cloud. “We’ve got five minutes left!”

“Admiral Sanda, do you copy?!” Keith hailed the fleet… just as the _Washington_ dropped out of warp on the edges of Voltron’s sensor-range, along with the rest of the fleet.

“ _We already know, Commander._ ” the admiral replied. “ _Let’s go trash that cruiser!_ ”

“ _Good to have you guys back in the fight!_ ” Griffin smirked.

“Good to be back, Jim,” Keith smirked; he knew Griffin hated it when he called the guy Jim. “Let’s do this.”

Once the fleet got a look at the cruiser, most among them were confused. “What the ruggle is that?” asked Olia.

“Looks like some sort of weapon.” Matt read his scans… before more weapons started firing. “Incoming!”

“Flak! Evade, evade!” Griffin’s order was quickly followed as all ships quickly scattered and moved around the cruiser to attack.

“Admiral, take the main ships and get at least eleven star systems away from Naxzela ASAP,” Keith ordered. “Pick up anyone else in the area, but run.”

“What about you?” asked Shiro.

“ _We’ll stop the blast if we can, but we need you to do this,_ ” Allura ordered.

“Hate to be rude your highness, but I technically don’t work for you yet.” Sanda rebuked. “All Starfleet vessels move in tighter on the battlecruiser; arm all cannons and torpedoes.”

“Reality Boosters are at full power!” Ginger reported.

“Same with the Warp Wings!” Daniel yelled. “I don’t think we’re gonna make it in time!”

“We’ll make it!” Keith seemed pretty sure of that… until he heard Allura yell in apparent pain as she grabbed her head. “Allura!”

“It’s-! It’s Haggar! She’s increasing power to the terraforming drive!” she groaned.

“Naxzela’s gravitational field has increased by a factor of three! We’re running out of time!” Wolo reported.

“ _The shields around this weapon are insane!_ ” Rizavi called. “ _Our weapons aren’t even scratching them!_ ”

Lance growled as he saw Naxzela glowing as if it was about to explode. “We’re not gonna make it!”

“Detonation in 30 seconds!” Prof. Page called. “29…”

“Please hurry, Keith,” Shiro said in concern.

“28… 27… 26… 25… 24…”

“ _We’ll never make it through those shields!_ ” yelled Matt.

Krolia scowled as if she had a crazy idea. “Maybe not with our weapons.” Before Dorma could ask, Krolia sealed her helmet and ejected her from the fighter, which she then set on a collision course to the shield.

“ _Krolia, what’re you doing?!_ ” Griffin yelled. “ _Fall back and form back up! That’s an order!_ ”

“I give my life to the freedom of the universe,” she said into the general coms.

Keith knew what that might imply. “No Mom, don’t!” Krolia just closed her eyes to embrace her fate and tuned everything else out.

“7…6…5… Brace yourselves!” Prof. Page yelled as he dropped behind his console, prompting everyone else to do the same.

Suddenly a massive nebulon blast shot out of seemingly nowhere and destroyed the shields in one shot, as well as the weapon itself. Krolia quickly realized this and pulled away from the blast just in time.

Then the _Washington_ ’s crew looked where that blast came from and were surprised… and concerned. “Lotor…” Sanda growled. Indeed, Lotor had saved the day as the terraforming drive deactivated and the spell was broken, saving countless lives across the universe as Naxzela stabilized.

“Nice work, Griffin!” Keith laughed as his crew cheered.

“ _It wasn’t us Keith._ ” Griffin’s reply confused the Guardian Force. “ _It was Lotor. That nebulon cannon on his ship was the only thing that could pierce that shield._ ”

Obviously, Haggar was livid by this turn of events as she made her way to the bridge. “Captain Ladnok, get us out of here! NOW!”

“Vrepit Sa, High Priestess.” replied the captain and the ship quickly warped back to imperial space, leaving only the Coalition fleet and Lotor’s ship.

Suddenly a transmission came in on the _Washington_. “Admiral Sanda, Lotor’s hailing us.”

Sanda was confused but shrugged. “On-screen; transmit this fleet-wide. Let’s hear what he has to say.”

Once the hailing channel was open, Lotor smiled at his large audience. “ _Attention Coalition Starfleet; this is Lotor, former Prince of the Galra Empire. Now I’m well aware we’ve had our differences in the past, but… well…_ ”

“I believe it is beyond time we spoke like civilized lifeforms.”


	57. Intel

“ _Officer’s Log; Commander Keith Kogane reporting. November 12 th, 2057 1542 Hours Pacific Standard Time. It’s been just over a month since Operation: Thermopylae; Naxzela and an entire third of Imperial territory belongs to us, and the Coalition has recently had the rest of the Galra Empire on the run with a series of vicious slash-and-burn ops deep within Imperial space. Targets we wouldn’t otherwise have without recent intelligence. The Guardian Force has been declared an emergency Black Ops squadron, explicitly designed to take on these ops and we’ve done very well. Unfortunately, I was recently informed that Quartermaster Janka recently escaped from the Army’s custody and was last seen heading back to Imperial space. Unfortunately, that’s not my problem because as of now, I’m leading Voltron to a mission to attack an Ultra-Black Corps training and upgrading terminal on the first moon of Tragoch-3. With luck, this mission will go the same as most of the others we’ve done. But I still can’t help but feel like we’ve only just scratched the surface of what Voltron is really able to do._”

“End log.” The Black Lion’s computer beeped as the Lions slowed to sub-light speeds near their target; a massive moon polluted with Galra infrastructure. “Thar she blows; Tragoch-3A.”

“ _According to our latest intel, this is where practically the entire Ultra-Black Corps is being sent for advanced training and upgrades to be made deadlier warriors on the battlefield,_ ” Pidge noted.

“So we take out this base, the Empire will have lost their main battle-forces for months,” Keith noted.

“ _Just saying, but how do we know this isn’t a trap?_ ” Sven’s question was valid.

“Well, all the intel has checked out so far.” Keith shrugged. “Everything is exactly how we were told it would be.” Then the Black Lion’s scanners picked something up. “Including preparing us for those!” A swarm of micro-targeting drones had launched from the moon and were on a collision course with the Lions.

“ _Allura, I’m transmitting you_ _the drones’ interference frequency,_ ” Pidge ordered. “ _Make good use of it._ ”

“Frequency received. Engaging sub-space roar.” But instead of simply roaring as planned, the Blue Lion suddenly formed something on its back; something that looked like a massive sonic weapon, which then broadcasted the frequency in massive waves, disabling every drone in the star system.

“Whoa! Allura, how’d you do that?” Lance was right to ask; he’d never seen that before.

“I don’t know; the Blue Lion simply did it,” Allura replied. “He’s calling it a… Roar-Amp.”

“Might come in handy on other ops like this.” Vince shrugged. He was still proud of his new status as a Petty Officer, as was Daniel.

“Well, in the meantime, we’ve got 90 seconds left before they recalibrate to the frequency and report us. Cut ‘em down!” Keith’s order was swiftly followed as the Lions all formed massive jaw-blades and slashed through all the drones, blasting them away. “Nice work, team! Form up on me; we’re goin’ inside!”

“Roger!” everyone reported and flew into a large vent.

“I’d say we have about five minutes before the Galra realize their drones aren’t responding.” Pidge calculated.

“Let’s make the most of it. Maintain formation and whatever you do, don’t touch the sides!” Keith ordered as the flew through the vent.

The problem was Hunk was psyching himself out too much as he tried to remember that and accidentally slammed straight into one of the walls of the tunnel. “Uh-oh!” That was warranted as the wall panel broke off and the tunnel soon flooded with burning-hot magma. “Uh guys, I might’ve nicked the side a little bit.”

“Make a hole. Allura, pull us back and get ready to open the mouth!” Sven’s orders were quickly followed as the Blue Lion fell back and opened its mouth aimed right at the magma. Sven dangled from one of its fangs and fired his freeze-ray at full power, creating a massive wall of ice in front of the magma. “That wall won’t hold long. Let’s move!” The Lions all moved further into the moon toward the command center.

In said command center, an alarm started going off and one of the lieutenants quickly reported. “Commander Quark, we’re under attack! It’s Voltron!”

Quark quickly got on the P.A. “All forces, prepare for enemy assault. This is not a drill. I repeat; all forces, prepare for enemy assault.”

The Galra forces were the least of Voltron’s worries at that moment as the ice-wall suddenly caved, allowing the magma to flow further down the tunnel after the Lions. “Incoming!” Vincent reported. “We’re not fast enough!”

“Doesn’t matter. If I’m correct, we should be directly underneath the main training grounds!” Pidge noted.

“Opening dead ahead! On me!” Keith ordered, driving the Lions straight up at the junction and allowing the magma to stop and spill into a pit… before it started overflowing up into the tunnel.

“Great plan, Keith.” Lance groaned sarcastically. “We’re trapped.”

“Not for long, we’re not. We have an escape route. Form Voltron!”

Daniel liked where this was going and quickly activated his own connection to the Lions. “Flash-Form, Engaged!” As soon as he yelled that, Voltron formed up in a matter of seconds just before the magma enveloped them.

Quark smiled, thinking he had succeeded where whole battle-fleets had failed. “All forces, stand down. Lieutenant, contact the Emperor; Voltron is no more.”

“ _Sure about that, pal?_ ” Quark was understandably terrified to hear Lance’s voice on the coms, but even more so when he saw the great Knight burst out of a wall, without even a chip in its paint. “It’s gonna take a lot more than a mantle-bath to take Voltron down!”

“Raze this place to ash!” Keith ordered, weapons firing from all sides of Voltron’s body. Missiles flew from the legs, plasma-blasts bellowed from the hands, and machines and training areas exploded all around the great knight. Soldiers were running in all directions like ants to avoid the magma and destruction, but the Paladins just smiled.

“Time to leave! All hands to escape shuttles!” Quark ordered as he ran from the command center. Shuttles flew from the moon in droves along with Voltron before the whole moon exploded in a magnificent fireball.

Back at the Castle of Lions, currently in port-call at New Vienna along with _Explorer_ , the Guardian Force enjoyed a well-earned respite from work. “Whoo, man. Going on missions is _so_ much easier when someone just gives you all you need to know before you get there.” Jeff smirked; his mission had been a breeze as well.

“And yet, Hunk still somehow managed to slam his Lion into a wall,” Lance smirked.

“Hey, intel is one thing; ability is something else entirely.” Hunk excused. “Besides, you know Yellow isn’t built for agility. His whole thing is that he can take a pounding.”

“Well, no doubt about it; we haven’t encountered a single problem.” Shiro nodded. “That was a vital target we just wasted.”

“And we made it look pretty easy. Except for, y’know, the whole ‘getting buried in magma’ part.” Pidge smirked.

“Yeah, but hey; Vince and I really came through in the clutch there,” Daniel smirked.

“You really did.” Lance smiled… before he got serious. “But either way, it might be time to consider taking the next step.” Allura looked like she was going to growl.

“I’m still not comfortable with this. I-It just doesn’t feel right,” she said.

“Agreed.” Keith nodded.

“Amen.” Jeff agreed.

“Like it or not guys, his intel has checked out,” Shiro noted. “Besides, I have a meeting with him in a few minutes. And I’d like you three to go with me.”

Soon enough, they were on a shuttle with Shiro bound for a massive compound on Pluto where they easily landed and made their way inside. “What do you know about this place, Commanders?” The three were confused by what Shiro meant; sure, Keith and Jeff had been promoted to Commander after Naxzela and the whole rest of the crew had been promoted as well, with Allura now a _Lieutenant_ Commander, but that wasn’t the part they were confused about.

“I thought you’d know, Shiro. You _were_ a Lieutenant on the ship that first built this place.” Keith remembered from when Pidge looked up Shiro’s record.

Shiro smirked as he turned to face them in the air-lock, flashing his new 2-pip badge, noting his promotion to Rear Admiral. “Humor me, guys.”

“Yes, sir.” Jeff nodded as they were allowed into the compound, revealing plasma-barred prison cells all down the hallway. “The Tartarus Maximum Security Prison, colloquially known as ‘The Underworld’, is the most secure detention facility in Galactic Coalition Space. Built after the Yunboran Pirate Raids of 2035, it’s been used as a detention facility for the worst of the worst in the universe who would threaten Earth and the rest of the Coalition. Any prisoner too dangerous for any single star-system, they’re sent here.”

Keith nodded as he took over. “Security procedures include robotic security guards programmed for shoot-to-kill situations, an exterior grid of sensors and turrets that go berserk if any unauthorized crafts come in, Altean lunar-titanium bulkheads, anti-proton energy bars on every cell, magnetic security anklets that lock all prisoners to their cell-floors, and if anyone gets too rowdy, their cell ejects out into space and self-destructs.”

Allura smiled; she remembered that last part was Admiral Blaytz’s idea, but she quickly resumed her seriousness as they arrived in the high-risk prisoner wing. “Current high-profile inmates include Yunboran pirate admiral Kilora ‘Lobster’ Lukkage, interstellar serial killer Villun Thedd, former Coalition Marine Corps General Charles Wegener, and of course, our latest guest…”

Shiro scowled. “The former prince of the Galra Empire; Lotor Ronkal the First, son of Zarkon.” With that, the doors to the large antechamber at the end of the hall opened, revealing the great prince in an admittedly luxurious cell with a force-field dome around him.

He was reading when the group stopped outside his cell. “Admiral Shirogane.” He marked his place and snapped the book shut. “To what do I owe the pleasure this time?”

“Your intel checked out.” Shiro shrugged.

Lotor chuckled. “And you still feign surprise at the fact.” He stood and turned to face the four of them. “All of the information I’ve given you, proven correct. Every black-site target I’ve provided, easily dispatched. And yet you still look at me-”

“As if you were the leader of the most bloodthirsty race of mass-murderers this universe has ever known,” Allura said simply. “You, of course, understand why.”

Lotor smiled. “Ah, Princess Allura. Quite the honor to have you visit me.” But he returned to his original disposition, addressing the whole group. “And I ask you; can people not change? Is it really so hard to believe that I wish to return the Galra Empire to a bygone era of peace?” He turned to address Allura again. “Our fathers were friends once, centuries ago. There must be hope for us.”

Allura growled and spit at the prince, the force-field, of course, catching it. “You spit on my father’s name; I spit at you.”

“Easy, girl.” Jeff tried to calm her down.

“I guess some of us still need more convincing.” Keith shrugged.

Lotor scoffed as he looked at Keith’s new rank. “The facts speak for themselves, Commander. The Galra Empire is completely reliant on Energix. Serve that need peacefully, boom! Complete paradigm shift; a new dawn for the old Empire.”

“And I suppose _you’re_ the man to make this happen?” asked Allura.

“I’d like to be.” Lotor shrugged. “My plan from the start has always been to find a way to harvest pure Energix without having to resort to the barbarism of the Komar. I mean, extracting Energix from entire planets at the expense of their entire populations? That is the very definition of overkill.”

“And your solution was to build your own Voltron to do your dirty work,” Allura growled.

“Only a Voltonium Knight can help my plans come to fruition.” Lotor excused. “So yes, when I detected a Voltonium asteroid in the Hyperion galaxy, I jumped at the chance. And since I recovered the asteroid, I haven’t been the least bit aggressive against the Coalition.”

“And what about your generals?” asked Allura.

“A simple misunderstanding, I assure you.” Lotor excused. “How was I supposed to know our paths would cross in the Ulippa system? What would I have to gain by fighting you? My sole focus has always been to find a way of accessing the Energix Field through the rift.”

“It seems the apple doesn’t fall from the tree,” Allura growled. “We’re done here.” With that, she started to walk away.

“Need I remind you, Princess, that it was _your_ father who led the scientific exploration that _discovered_ Energix and the properties of Voltonium?” Lotor yelled, stopping her in her tracks. “An exploration, might I add, that resulted in the creation of your Guardian Force. This isn’t a zero-sum game, Allura! Meeting the needs of the Galra Empire means peace for the universe. That is the future enlightenment brings us; one of prosperity for all races.” Allura punched the force-field in rage, wishing it wouldn’t stop her so she could really punch Lotor in the face. “I saved your lives and those of all your comrades. I have served you black-site after black-site in Imperial space on a _platinum_ platter, and all have been dismantled or obliterated at no cost of life to your military. All I ask is to be judged by _my_ actions rather than your preconceptions of my species. If that is beyond you, then you may as well just kill me now and save us all some time.” No one budged so Lotor smirked at Shiro. “Clearly Admiral, you are not ready to end this war.”

Shiro just got angry at that and delivered a straight jab, his bionic arm phasing straight through the force-field and hitting the prince square in the nose, knocking him to the ground. “Allura was right. We’re done here.” With that, they all left the prison, leaving Lotor on the floor of his cell with blood dripping down his face from his nose. This might be more fun than he thought.


	58. The Scientist

“ _Personal Log; Lieutenant Commander Allura Fala reporting; November 13 th, 2057 0852 Hours Pacific Standard Time. My meeting with Prince Lotor at Tartarus yesterday has put me in a fairly foul mood as of late, and I had disturbing nightmares concerning him last night. I’d rather keep the details out of an official log, but I feel as though I should see a counselor about them at some point. I’m currently preparing for a meeting at the United Nations to discuss our next course of action. I simply hope I’m up to the task because Lotor’s words are still sticking in my head. Maybe we aren’t ready to end this war._”

“End log.” With that, Allura returned focus to the displays on the Castle’s computer. Lance had parked them in New York Harbor earlier and the crew had left Allura to work.

It was however at this point that Keith and Lance came in. “I’m tellin’ ya man, he’s gonna go for her.”

“Lance, be real here; if he was interested, he would’ve made his move ages ago. Nah-nah-nah, he’s definitely going for Lisa.” Keith countered.

“What exactly are we debating?” Allura asked, not looking up from her work.

“Oh, we’re just betting on who Jeff’s gonna hook up with first.” Lance shrugged.

“See, he’s betting on Ginger and I’m betting on Lisa,” Keith explained.

“How much are we betting, exactly?” Allura asked.

“Fifty credits,” Lance smirked.

Allura perked at that. “Ooh. I’m in.”

“Alright, who’ll it be; Ginger or Lisa?” Keith smirked.

“Both.”

“Wow.” Keith.

“Dayum.” Lance.

Allura chuckled. “Please. I’m the woman here; I understand how women think. They’re both gonna hook up with him at the same time and everyone’s going to be cool with it.”

Lance looked at Keith with a face that made the commander know that his helmsman had the most confused boner of his life. “Sounds like this bet just got even more interesting.”

“Agreed.” Keith nodded, before looking at Allura. “Anyway, you good to go? Meeting’s about to start.”

“I’m almost ready.” Allura nodded, looking at several screens at once. “After all, if I’m expected to lead this, I need to know what I’m talking about.”

“Yeah, but no one’s gonna expect you to memorize everything in the universe.” Lance shrugged. “We can have a teleprompter for you, or you could just jot down notes on the inside of your hand. I mean I do it all the-” He narrowed his eyes at his hands for a second. “-uh ‘time’.” Allura and Keith just glared at him for a second. “I’m kidding!”

Suddenly a transmission came in from United Nations Headquarters; it was Chip. “ _We’re ready for you Princess._ ”

“On my way.” It was a fairly quick trip, especially with the army escort (Allura _was_ royalty, after all) and once she arrived at the UN, she was welcomed with a kind round of applause from the delegates as she made her way to the podium. “Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen welcome to this special session. As of yesterday, Coalition forces have taken full control of one-third of Galra space. But we cannot grow complacent; the Galra Empire is still the dominant force in the universe, though the tide does change.”

“The Coalition is winning because of you, Princess Allura.” the Cubserion ambassador noted. “You and the Guardian Force. Mere months ago, I believed my species would breathe its last breath in Galra chains. But then Voltron appeared on the horizon and my world’s destiny changed forever.”

Other representatives of liberated planets all chimed in with cheers of happy response, which Allura blushed at. “Thank you, Ambassador Thakur. But this bid for liberty is only possible because of all of our sacrifices. And we still have a long way to go before the entire universe is free. Who knows? Maybe the Galra Empire will be the least interesting thing we have to deal with.” A kind chuckle was shared through the room at that.

“Well, we’ll be behind you every step of the way, your highness.” Thakur nodded. Everyone else cheered and applauded as Allura gave a courteous bow.

“Thank you. We shall reconvene soon. Until then.” With that, she left the main meeting hall to a specific military hall in the next room. “How’d I do?”

“Excellent, Princess.” Coran smiled.

“Did you complete your raids on the targets we sent you last transmission?” Shiro asked Marmora over the video-com.

“ _Lotor’s intel has checked out consistently. All targets have been destroyed._ ” Marmora reported.

“With all these successful missions in such a short period of time, it won’t be long before Zarkon finds out we’re using inside information.” Pidge pointed out. 

“ _True enough. We should expect the Empire to change protocols soon._ ” Kolivan agreed.

“Then I say we act fast,” Lance suggested. “Scramble the fleet and blitz as many targets as possible.”

“I’ll talk to Lotor; see if there’s anything else he can give us.” Shiro shrugged.

“I still don’t know about this Shiro,” Allura noted. “I can’t stop thinking that we may be an unwitting part of a much grander ulterior motive.”

And so Keith agreed to go with Shiro to present this point to the prince as they asked for better targets the next day. “Every lead I’ve provided you with so far has been unerring, exact to the micrometer, and relatively simple to accomplish. Anything I would give you know would be somewhat more… perilous in nature.”

“We’re listening.” was all Keith said.

Lotor chuckled. “Eager, aren’t we? Alright; I have information I believe you would consider important on a more… personal level. There is a prison, formerly under Commander Yurak’s personal command. If I’m correct, it houses a special inmate.”

Elsewhere, on Kraydah-C, Matt, Pidge, and Chip were bragging about how they overhauled the systems on several of the Militia’s ships. Allura and Sven were there as well, and they had to admit this was fairly amusing, but Allura couldn’t stop thinking about… well, a lot of things really; how things might not be as she thought, Lotor’s possible secret plan, and… about Honerva. It was that last thought that bore fruit, however. “Hey Allura, you got a call comin’ in,” Rolo called.

Allura nodded and moved to board his ship, bringing the transmission up on the screen. “Gentlemen.”

“ _Allura…_ ” Keith seemed unsure about how to deal with this.

“What’s wrong? Is everything okay?”

Keith just sighed and resolved to say it. “ _We may have a lead on Dr. Inded._ ”

Allura was shocked, but Pidge… “Who?”

“Dr. Honerva Inded,” she said. “Where is she?”

“ _Lotor gave us information about her possible whereabouts,_ ” Shiro explained. “ _Since she was considered a valuable scientific asset, she was moved to a remote prison planetoid with others like her. They’re… being forced to develop weapons and technology for the Empire._ ”

“ _According to Lotor, there are good odds she’s still at the prison, but she could be transferred to Korrinoth at any moment,_ ” Keith noted. “ _As soon as the Castle is fully repaired, we can all head over._ ”

Allura looked at Honerva’s necklace; she hadn’t taken it off since Keith found it at the Unilu swap because it always reminded her of what she was really fighting for. Quickly, she came to a resolution. “Transmit the coordinates and details to the Blue Lion.” With that, she ran off the ship.

“ _Allura, wait! You might need back-up on this one!_ ” Keith ordered.

“Don’t worry, Keith.” Lieutenant Ozar smiled. “We’ll make sure she gets all the help she needs. Your crew ready, Corporal?”

“Willin’ and able, Lieutenant,” Rolo smirked.

“ _Bring her back safe. That’s an order._ ” Keith growled.

“Yes, sir,” Ozar noted. “Te’Osh, tell Allura the plan. Holts, think you can hold down the fort?”

“We got it covered, Lieutenant.” Matt agreed. “Good luck.”

“We might need it.” It only really took a few minutes for Ozar and his thrown-together battalion to board the Blue Lion and fly out toward the coordinates.

But Allura had doubts. “What if something’s happened to her? Wh-What if-?”

“Hey. Don’t worry. We’ll bring her back, I promise.” Sven smiled. Allura wanted to believe him, but in her heart, she knew something might’ve gone wrong.

Her suspicions would be confirmed soon as they approached the planetoid; Heruta-2, a barren world with only one real installation on the surface; the prison. “This place is gonna have security. We’re gonna go headfirst into it?” asked Rolo.

“Hey relax Corporal,” Ozar smirked as he handed the Teqqan a plasma rifle. “That’s the only insurance policy you’re gonna need.”

“Well, that and this.” Allura nodded, activating a cloaking device Pidge installed recently. But then, a sensor went off and a force-field came up around the planet, disabling the cloak.

“Whoa! What just happened?” asked Rolo.

“That field must’ve been a metaphasic sweep.” Allura theorized as an alarm started going off.

“That doesn’t sound good,” Nyma said simply.

“It’s not,” Sven noted. “We’ve got a battalion of fighters on an intercept course.” And those fighters started firing on the Blue Lion.

Allura quickly blasted one out of the sky and sent the Lion straight through the hole it generated. “Change of plans; I’m going to have to drop you off here!”

“Correction; _I’m_ dropping _you_ off.” Sven resolved, confusing everyone. “This is your search Allura. Only fair for you to be on the surface.”

Allura smiled and hugged Sven for a moment. “Thank you.” With that, Sven took the controls and opened the cargo bay, allowing the whole team to jump overboard with booster-packs to slow their descent to the surface.

Once there, Ozar took point and led the team to the front door of the compound. “No guards.” Rolo pointed out.

“Security and defense systems here are completely automated,” Allura noted. “Override codes should shut everything down.”

“Uh, it looks like everything is already shut down.” Te’Osh was right; it looked like a rabid animal had torn through the area and ripped all the sentries at the main door to scrap metal.

“What is going on here?” asked Nyma.

“Only one way to find out.” Allura readied her bow, just in case and quickly led the way.

Up above, Sven was having a really fun time taking down the fighters, even using the new Roar-Amp Allura discovered to take them down. “Cmon Blue, stay with me.” Then in one awesome move, the Lion grabbed a fighter in its mouth and tossed it at another one, blowing them both up. But then another squadron flew in on his six. “Oh come on!” Still, he re-engaged and started firing but this was going nowhere fast.

Inside the prison, the squad found more destroyed sentries and unanswered questions, but they still pressed on to find a large anti-chamber full of aliens working o technology. “Stay low; I’ll take point,” Ozar whispered and slid across the floor to get a good look at them… but then he saw some shoes in front of him. Looking slowly up, he saw an elderly male alien looking down at him. “Um… hi?”

The alien was about to yell when Te’Osh zipped in and slapped a hand over his mouth, still drawing attention. “Everyone relax, we’re with the Militia,” Ozar noted.

The aliens seemed scared and several ducked. “Don’t hurt us.” someone in the pit said.

“Relax people, no one’s here to hurt you.” Te’Osh explained, releasing her hostage.

“You’re not with the scary lady?” asked the first guy.

“‘Scary lady’?” asked Rolo.

“Haggar.” Allura theorized.

“She told us to stay inside. If we went out, we’d be killed.” the person in the pit said.

“Well, nobody’s here now. Pack up and let’s go; we’re leaving.” Ozar ordered.

Allura looked around in concern, but she couldn’t see any Altean; much less Honerva specifically. “Is this everyone?”

“No, there are others back in the holding area.” said the first person. Allura quickly resolved to check and ran to the cell-block door.

“Te’Osh, go with her. Everyone else, follow us; we’ve got a ship waiting.” Ozar ordered. Everyone quickly listened and ran out of the room as Allura and Te’Osh made their way to the holding area.

“Hello? Honerva? Dr. Inded, are you here?” Several aliens peeked out and quickly ran on Te’Osh’s orders, but there were no Alteans among them. “Has anyone here seen Honerva Inded? An Altean! Is- Is there another Altean here?” None of the prisoners answered, so Allura simply opened every cell she could, but she didn’t find Honerva or any sign of her. Tears came ot her eyes and she fell to her knees, bawling her eyes out as Te’Osh gave her a sympathetic hug.

Meanwhile, Ozar and Rolo had gotten everyone out to the front door ready for pick-up. “Sven, we’re all set. How ya doin’ up there?”

“Too hot; I head down there now, you’re overrun. You’re gonna have to find another way out of there.” Sven explained.

The squad was worried, but then Rolo had a lightbulb moment. “Sven, what if I brought the group to you?”

“And how’re we gonna do that?” asked Nyma.

“Don’t worry, I have an idea,” Rolo smirked. “Everyone, follow me.” Turned out his idea was to steal a Galra escape pod, so all the prisoners loaded up and strapped in ready for take-off.

“These pods were only designed for five passengers.” said the female from the lab-pit. “We’ll be lucky to break atmo.”

“I know, I know,” said Rolo as he calibrated the pod. “We ready back there, Lieutenant?”

“Almost. Still waiting on Te’Osh and Allura.” Speak of the devil; they arrived right then and there, with Allura looking incredibly sad.

“All set, let’s go.” Allura deadpanned.

“Where’s-?” Ozar started.

“That was an order, lieutenant!” she growled.

“Uh, yes ma’am,” Ozar replied. “You heard her Rolo; up ‘n away!”

“Yes, sir!” Rolo quickly launched the pod, taking it up as high as he could… before the thrusters started bugging out and the ship slowed down. “Thrusters are maxed out; we’re too heavy! Sven, this is Rolo; we’re about as high as this overloaded escape pod can take us. We need a pick-up, now!”

“ _Copy, I’m Oscar-Mike to you,_ ” Sven replied, quickly flying the Lion to their position.

But not quick enough as something blew out in the port thruster. “Engines failing! Hang on tight back there; this might get bumpy!” Then the starboard thruster died too, sending the pod into a free-fall. “All hands, brace for impact!”

Right then, the Blue Lion flew in on an intercept course. “Gotta time this just right…” Sven strained. Then right as he was under the pod, he flipped the Lion over and opened the cargo-bay, allowing the pod to fall on-board just in time. “WHOO!” With one move, the Blue Lion shot away from the planet at full speed, allowing the cloak to come back online.

Allura came up to the cockpit not long after Sven set auto-pilot to take them home. “How’d it go? You find her?” He regretted asking as soon as he saw Allura’s face; she had been crying. He knew what that meant. “I’m sorry, Allura.” Allura started crying again, so Sven stepped forward and took his old friend in a kind embrace. “Don’t give up. She’s still alive; you know that. We’ll find her.”

Elsewhere, Zarkon was on-board a war-fleet bound straight for Coalition space when a hailing message came up on the main screen. It was Acxa and Lotor’s generals. “State your business.”

“ _We have something in our possession we believe you may be interested in._ ” Acxa smiled. “ _We are willing to trade it for our safe passage back into Imperial ranks._ ”

“You have my attention.”


	59. Decisions

Later, on the Castle, the crew was still worried about Allura; she’d hardly said two words since her team returned from Heruta-2. Suddenly Pidge’s console started beeping. “Shiro, we’re receiving a general transmission from somewhere in Imperial Space.”

“Rebels?” asked Lance.

Unfortunately, Pidge’s readout said otherwise. “No. Zarkon.”

Everyone was frightened at that, and all stood at attention as they glared at the view-screen. “Open a channel.” Shiro’s order was quickly followed as the transmission was brought up, presenting the emperor himself.

“ _Paladins of Voltron; I present you with a one-time offer. I have someone of value to you._ ” He stepped to one side to show Lotor’s generals holding an Altean woman up.

She was badly bruised and battered, but she was still recognizably… “Honerva!” Allura was rationally both shocked and frightened for the scientist, and so was the rest of the crew.

Shiro kept a strong face though. “Alright Zarkon, you have our attention. What do you want?”

“ _My son. I know Lotor is with you in Coalition Space._ ” Zarkon growled. “ _I am prepared to surrender Dr. Inded to your care if, in exchange, my son is returned to mine. If you accept, meet me on Bolrutune-7. If not, she dies. You have 24 hours to decide._ ” With that, the transmission was terminated.

“Hailing frequency closed,” Pidge reported. The crew was unsure of what to do… until they heard a strange dripping.

Keith glanced over at Allura and saw that she was apparently so angry, she had managed to draw blood from her clenched fists. “Whoa! Allura, are you okay?”

She didn’t answer him and instead directed her attention to Lance. “Get us to Pluto. Now!”

“Whoa, easy there Allura,” Lance said seriously. “We can’t rush into anything; we have to think this through.”

Allura gave an incredulous laugh. “Are _you_ seriously telling me to think?” Okay, _that_ hurt. “Besides, what is there to think through? Honerva is the greatest mind of Altea; we have to do this!”

“This is Zarkon we’re talking about here, Allura.” Sven brought up. “We need to operate under the assumption that he _will_ try to double-cross us.”

“Why worry about that? We have Voltron; we can handle whatever Zarkon throws at us.”  Allura growled.

“Allura-” Keith tried to say something, but the princess just slapped him to the ground.

“No! I am not about to allow this chance to slip by! We are too close!” she growled. “The _owner of this necklace_ is too close!”

Keith spit something on the floor before he stood up. “Look, I say we get Lotor’s opinion on this. And before you argue with me, remember who outranks who here.”

“I am the princess of an entire star-system. I outrank this whole ship!” Allura yelled.

“Except for Voltron.” Keith countered. “Lance, set a course for Tartarus Prison. Pidge, call the place and tell them to get lunch ready for visitors.”

“Roger.” both officers said. It didn’t take long for the ship to make it to Pluto, and soon enough, Lotor was apprised of the situation.

And he chuckled at it… before explaining. “My father has held the universe in a death-grip for over a century, but this act only proves that he sees it slipping from his grasp because of the efforts of both your government and myself. With our forces truly combined, we would be the greatest threat to Zarkon’s reign the universe has ever seen. We could topple his empire within days and he knows that, so this is his foolish attempt to tear us apart. But united, we could forge a new path for both our governments, open doors to new worlds, and crush the tyrannical ways of an old regime.”

Allura scoffed. “A regime _you_ ran, however briefly. Everyone just ignore him; he’s only out to save his own hide.”

“Not far off.” Lotor relented. “If you return me to my father, I have no doubts that the first thing he would attempt to do would be kill me. And with his most legitimate threat to the throne removed, his empire would only grow stronger.”

Allura scowled. “One less threat for the whole universe; Zarkon and us.”

Lotor raised an eyebrow at Allura. “I am surprised at you Princess. After all, Honerva _is_ **my** mother. And your father, King Alfor, first introduced him to Zarkon when they stood side-by-side to protect the universe from harm. There was no foe who dared stand before the Paladins of Old.”

“That time is long gone, Lotor.”

“Perhaps. But maybe we can find it once more.” Lotor insisted. “Allura, imagine; a new generation that could lift the mantle of peace. The Daughter of Alfor and Son of Zarkon, maybe even the children of the other Paladins of Old, all of us together leading an alliance across the universe, spearheaded by an alliance between Altean and Galra-”

That was where Keith stopped him. “Yeah okay, you’re losing us.”

“And you’re lying either way.” Allura rumbled. “With every word.”

“HA! And what of my father’s words?” Lotor asked seriously. “Do you really think he’ll return my mother to you as he says? If you honestly believe the corrupted leader of a ruthless galactic empire will be true to his word, then you are more misguided than I thought. He wants more than just me, and he’s willing to do anything to get it.”

“You think he’ll double-cross us?” asked Sven.

“I’d be legitimately shocked otherwise.” Lotor shrugged. “My father would do anything to be rid of me and claim _both_ the Defenders for himself.”

Pidge stepped forward. “I have to admit; an alliance with the Empire _could_ end the war.”

“Did I seriously just hear you say that, Pidge?” Allura asked in anger.

“Hey, I admit it’s not ideal; I’m just being realistic.” Pidge excused. “I don’t trust this guy any more than anyone else here, but statistically speaking, I’d say it’s our best option. Think of the lives we could save, all the planets we could free.”

“Think of the most ingenious woman in the universe being worked to death as a slave.” Allura retorted.

“I gotta admit; I’m with Allura.” Lance shrugged. “Let’s get this guy outta here, ASAP. Hunk, you with us?”

“I dunno, guys.” Hunk shrugged. “I mean, if this dude is on our side like he says – Just- just double-checking, but you _are_ saying you’re on our side, right?” Lotor nodded. “Then couldn’t he lead the Galra to peace from inside the empire?”

Allura practically exploded here. “We are turning him over and getting Honerva back! Voltron is all we need to restore peace to the universe!”

“Whoa hey!” Lance backed off after that, especially since Allura’s hands were glowing bright blue.

Lotor seemed to notice as well and he was intrigued… but more focused on stopping them. “You’re playing right into Zarkon’s hands!”

“ALL OF YOU, **SHUT UP!** ” Keith’s sword suddenly flew through the group and embedded themselves in the force-field of Lotor’s cell, scaring everyone. They all found their eyes drifting to Keith, panting in anger and sweating from the exertion it must’ve taken to throw his swords like that. “We are **not** children. We’re Starfleet officers. And I hold rank on this squad, so I say we all shut up and discuss options. Anyone who has a problem with that, I’ll be prosecuting you at your court-martial.” With that, he walked to the force-field and grabbed his sword.

“On what offense?” Allura asked realistically.

Keith’s answer was one word, and he didn’t stop retrieving his sword as he said it. “Mutiny.” That was enough to make anyone stop and stare; naval mutiny was punishable by death, so Keith really meant business. “If anyone wants to talk this over like civilized lifeforms instead of acting like a bunch of wolves fighting over a deer carcass, I’ll be on the bridge.” With that, he started for the door to the holding area without a single word.

Everyone looked at each other, all wordlessly coming to a consensus… including, surprisingly, Allura, who then spoke up. “Keith…” The black Paladin stopped and looked back at the others. “Would it be acceptable if we discussed it here?”


	60. Battle for the Throne

The next day, the Castle of Lions was in high-orbit of planet Bolrutune-7 along with the _Explorer_ , having informed Captain Newley and his crew of the plan.

Keith, Sven, and Allura took Lotor to a large crater on the planet’s surface in a shuttle where they were told to meet, but Zarkon wasn’t there yet so they had to wait. Soon enough, a Galra shuttle fell from the sky and landed across the crater from the Paladins. From it emerged Zarkon and his new generals, with the emperor seemingly looking more intimidating in that armor of his. “I was pleasantly surprised to hear from you, Kogane! I did not expect you to actually meet my demands!”

“Well, we didn’t really have any other way out of those negotiations!” Keith called back. “You know that just as well as I do, Darth Vader.” He smirked a bit at that part; Zarkon’s armor really did remind him of Darth Vader and he loved it.

“Enough banter! Show me your prisoner!” Zarkon bellowed.

“After you, your highness; I insist!” Keith invited. Zarkon’s eyes narrowed but he snapped his fingers, ordering his generals to bring the scientist to the door of the shuttle.

Allura nearly ran out to her, but Keith held her back. “Now then… my son, if you please?”

Unfortunately, not all was well across the universe as Haggar was seemingly working on something; some sort of spell, but when it seemingly failed, she fell to her knees and panted, seemingly appearing better-looking… and remembering something from her life on Drule; her husband long-past, and her children. “ _Kilon? Rator?_ ” Unfortunately, their images faded and all that was present in her view… was Lotor. “My children… share Lotor’s blood?”

Speaking of whom, he had just emerged from the shuttle and stood in the desert wind on the planet. The ships in orbit were keeping track of everything around the planet, including the Galra fleet that had come to accompany Zarkon. “Everything seems to be in order,” Jeff reported. “All according to plan.”

“I still don’t like this,” Lance grumbled. “This whole situation is like makin’ a deal with El Diablo.”

“I agree Lance; I hate being so far out of range,” Coran growled.

“So does Zarkon’s fleet, I imagine.” Shiro was right; Zarkon’s fleet and the Starfleet ships were both out of weapons-range of the crater. “Those are the terms Keith agreed to.”

“Maybe, but that doesn’t mean we have to like it.” Coran shrugged, looking at the tactical readout.

On the surface, the bargaining began. “Send Dr. Inded over and we’ll do the same for Lotor! Same speed, same distance; everyone’s happy!” Keith yelled.

“Very well!” Zarkon called back, turning to the generals. “Release her.”

“Move,” Ezor ordered simply, making Honerva start walking down the walkway from the shuttle.

Once her foot touched the ground, Lotor started walking as well, making Keith nervous. “Everyone on your toes. If Zarkon’s gonna try something, now would probably be the best time.” Everyone was sweating nervously on all the ships and on the ground as they watched it play out. Once the two prisoners passed each other, Lotor leered at his mother almost suspiciously… as if he saw something. But he chose to stay silent and continued walking, as did Honerva… right toward the Altean shuttle.

At this point, Allura couldn’t help it and shook Keith loose, running to her. “Honerva!”

“No Allura wait!” Keith ordered, but too late; Allura had already jumped onto Honerva… or rather through her. It was a hologram the whole time, which then quickly disappeared.

Allura growled and looked at the Galra shuttle as she heard Zarkon laughing at this display. Behind him, she saw Zethrid dragging the real Honerva to the doorway, looking apparently worse than in the transmission. “P- Princess…” she groaned.

Allura was already crying, but now she was just seething. “No! We had a deal, you snake! We had a deal!”

“The deal has changed!” Zarkon bellowed. “Surrender Voltron and V-15 to me and her life is yours!”

“Dammit; Lotor was right!” Jeff reported. “We’ve been double-crossed! I repeat, we’ve been double-crossed!”

“All hands to battle stations! Coran, bring her in!” Lance ordered.

“Belay that order!” Shiro commanded. “Zarkon still has Dr. Inded! We go in, not only do we put her life in danger, but Zarkon’s fleet moves in too!”

“Yeah, but Lotor was our king!” Hutch reminded. “We’re all-in with a shit-hand here, Admiral! What’s the play?”

“Maintain positions,” Shiro ordered. “But all ships _will_ maintain combat readiness, just in case our ‘ace’ doesn’t pan out.”

They would need it as Haggar had just been told about Lotor’s plans and quickly contacted a secret cabal of scientists “Initiate Operation: Kellax Stage 4, immediately.” she ordered them.

No one would know what that operation was, but they wouldn’t like any more than this situation. “You heard me, didn’t you?” Zarkon bellowed. “If you want this Altean wench returned alive, you will surrender the Defenders to me immediately!”

Sven was holding Allura back as best he could but she was strong, so he knew he couldn’t hold her for long. “What’s the play here, Keith?” the first lieutenant asked.

“Maintain position until I say otherwise.” That said, Keith got on his helmet-com and whispered two words; “Do it.”

Lotor smirked as he had heard it through the miniature ear-piece he had been given before this whole plan played out. “Bring the Defenders! Now!” Zarkon was suddenly interrupted when he heard Acxa yell and a blade unsheathe. He turned and saw something preposterous; Lotor armed with the Black Bayard in the shape of his own chain-sword. Quickly, the prince jumped and blasted the blade at the emperor, knocking him further into the crater where the two stood against each other. “So, the time has come at last. This ends today.”

“I could not agree more!” Lotor bellowed, forming his own father’s energy sword with the Bayard and charging. Zarkon’s fist clashed on the blade in a massive wave of energy that served as a signal for the whole crew.

“NOW!” Keith ordered and the Paladins quickly jet-packed to the Galra shuttle as fast as they could, but it was already taking off.

“Alright people, you heard the commander,” Shiro ordered, watching the Galra fleet move in. “All units, move in to engage! Remember; Priority 1 is to protect our team.”

“ _Understood,_ ” Jeff reported. “ _Strato Team, move in!_ ” Quickly the five fighter squadron flew from _Explorer_ as the Red, Green, and Yellow Lions flew in as well, with the main ships staying airborne to cover the battle-cruisers.

Soon enough, the Paladins had broken into the Galra shuttle and landed on-board. “Hey, Acxa.” Keith taunted, aiming a magnum into the cockpit. “Remember me?”

“Surrender the scientist and no one gets hurt!” Allura warned.

“Kill them!” Zethrid bellowed and charged like a wild bull along with the others.

Lotor and Zarkon were still dueling on the surface, clashing blade with armor for minutes on-end with no quarter given. Finally, Zarkon threw a massive stone at Lotor but the prince just slashed it clean down the middle, sparing him as clouds covered the sun. “You want my throne? HA! Even with the power of my bayard, you are still too weak. And you always will be. The Altean blood running in your veins poisons your very being, corrupts your warrior’s heart! Finally, I can have the chance to forever wipe my greatest shame from the universe with my own hands.”

“ _You_ presume to speak to _me_ of weakness, Father?” asked Lotor. “When you’ve become nothing more than one of the witch’s Robeasts? Does she control _you_ as well?” Here, he became a bit of a prick. “Tell me Father; what does it feel like to feel your own strength slipping slowly from your body? Does the memory of your power haunt you? Is that why you’ve strived after Voltron so desperately all these years? Well, I have news which all see clearly Father; Without the Black Lion, and without this bayard, you are a speck.”

Zarkon grew angry at this and emptied what was presumably a tank of pure Energix straight into his body through his armor, causing some parts of it to glow. “You wish to see my power?!” Somehow, that Energix caused some pieces of stone to hover up around him. “The strength of the Empire flows through my veins! And you shall _feel_ its wrath!!!” Lotor was admittedly in awe of this display, but still did what he was there to do… or at least, he tried to. He missed one strike which allowed Zarkon to kick him yards away before the fight raged on… for a few seconds. Until Zarkon caught the Bayard’s blade in his bare hand and tossed Lotor away. Then they proceeded to hand-to-hand.

Things were already at that point on the shuttle as the Paladins did all they could against the generals. Allura tried to attack Acxa, but she just pulled the ship up at full speed without engaging the artificial gravity. People and cargo fell to the back of the ship until Allura got in a lucky shot with her whip and pulled herself straight to Acxa’s seat… which unfortunately made her hit the controls so the ship went into free-fall. “Hold still.” Allura quickly cut the energy wire holding Honerva to her seat, which allowed her to float as well.

“Thank you, Princess.” Then they both looked out the windshield and screamed as they remembered why they were floating. “We’re going to crash!”

“Someone take the helm; I’m kinda busy back here!” Keith griped. Allura tried, but Acxa tackled her out of the air so Honerva had to do it herself… but things were complicated by the princess’s fight tossing the scientist across the cabin.

“I would appreciate some help, please,” she said.

“Gimme a sec!” Keith yelled.

“Kinda busy here, doc!” Sven noted. So was everyone else, covering the shuttle from the massive fleet that had appeared in the atmosphere.

“Remember people, that fleet gets the shuttle; this mission is a failure.” Lance reminded. “Let’s do this by the numbers.”

“I got this one!” Hunk yelled, charging straight at a squadron of fighters, followed by the others blasting apart fighters and cruisers left and right.

Some of the fuselages crashed into the crater and only served to make the duel on between Zarkon and Lotor look even more awesome, though Lotor was getting his ass kicked even before Zarkon emptied his second Energix tank. Lotor barely managed to dodge the cratering punch that caused and quickly jumped over him, slashing deep into his father’s armor and coating the blade in Energix. Zarkon screamed in pain as the power leaked out, splattering across the ground.

Lotor could tell the armor was weakened judging from Zarkon’s respirator and the fading glowing, but his father still didn’t relent.

In the air, Lance was having the time of his life blasting down fighters but when he saw a cruiser lock its cannon on him, he was terrified… until the whole cruiser was blown to scrap. Looking up, the allied fighters saw the Castle and _Explorer_ firing on the fleet as well. “Nice timing, guys! Now let’s wrap this up and save the others!” Ships were blasted out of the sky left and right until all the ships were gone.

“Keith, this is Shiro; the sky is clear. Status report.” the admiral ordered.

“ _Shuttle is not clear yet, repeat; not clear!_ ” Keith copied. “ _We need help!_ ”

“On my way!” Ginger yelled, sending the VT Fighter careening after the shuttle.

The fight on-board wasn’t going well either as Allura was just thrown against the windshield. Then her HUD showed her something about her whip; it had a taser-function. “Ooh. Handy.” One quick tap and the plasma-wire shot out and shocked Acxa away, sending her slamming directly into the other generals and knocking them against the door.

Finally, Honerva got a hold of the controls and gripped for all she was worth. “Hold onto something!” Quickly, she pulled up and the shuttle leveled off just enough for the generals to be held against the door by the g-forces.

Keith saw this as an opportunity and jumped to a control panel near the helm. “Adios!” One button-push and the generals were all ejected overboard, leaving them falling to the hill the shuttle quickly crested.

Keith sealed the door as soon as they were gone and smiled as Honerva fell back into her seat, the pain from her injuries finally catching back up to her. Allura couldn’t help but slip over to her and grip her in a gentle hug.

Keith smiled at the display and quickly got on the coms. “Kogane to Castle and _Explorer_ ; the shuttle is clear, but I think Dr. Inded might need medical attention. Tell Shannon to stand by.”

“ _Copy that, Keith._ ” Captain Newley nodded. “ _Strato Team, escort the shuttle to_ Explorer _._ ”

“Way ahead of you, Captain,” Jeff smirked, the fighters all rallying around the ship. “Solid job, team.”

“Where are Lotor and Zarkon?” asked Keith.

“Still on the surface. And I think Lotor’s losing.” Lance was right; Lotor had been beaten straight into the wall of the crater and disarmed, the bayard landing right at Zarkon’s feet who then used it to create a massive arm-cannon.

“Your fleet has been scrapped, and my mother liberated.” Lotor groaned, holding his injuries. “It’s over.”

“Indeed. For _you_.” Zarkon growled, his cannon charging to fire. Just before it did, a heat-blast shot in and knocked Zarkon off-balance. Lotor looked up and saw the Lions firing on his father to keep him down.

“ _Gotcha covered, Lotor!_ ” Lance smirked.

Unfortunately, once the smoke from one of the blasts cleared, everyone could see Zarkon aiming his cannon at the shuttle. Lotor instantly stood and ran to him. “No!” He grabbed up a spear-like piece of shrapnel from one of the shipwrecks and charged, yelling like a savage warrior.

Zarkon looked just in for Lotor’s attack to make him miss his mark completely, saving the shuttle and all other ships. Once the smoke had passed, everyone saw what Lotor had done; Zarkon was impaled on the scrap-metal in an upright position, painfully trying to breathe as he stared at his son. “You were… a worthy opponent… my son…”

Lotor was panting in pain as well, but smiled as he heard that from the mad king. “As were you… Father…” With that, Zarkon’s breathing slowed to a stop and his armor powered down. The clouds parted overhead and all present that day saw what the prince had done, his long white hair flapping majestically in the wind.

The Era of Zarkon the Conqueror was over.

Long live the Era of Lotor the Peace-Maker.


	61. Voltron VS Arbor-Beast

Two days later, the Guardian Force found themselves, once again, at Forward Operating Base Olkarion where the main city of the planet Lubosia had undergone some significant changes since last time, including the in-progress construction of what was described as a massive hyper-ion cannon atop a high tower in the city center.

“Part of me misses my people’s old lives in the forest.” Ryner smiled, looking out the window with the Holts; recalling the old days when the cities were only infrequently visited by her people and they lived in the forests of their planet. “But since Olkarion has become the main hub for refugees in this quadrant, it made sense that we should expand the city and make it a real field-capital for the Coalition.”

“I’m impressed, Ryner.” Sam smiled. “So much has changed so fast.”

“For the better.” Pidge smiled.

“I wouldn’t say that.” Matt shrugged. “Zarkon may be dead, but we haven’t won the war yet.”

“Yeah; if Lotor’s right, the only way we can really end the war is to put _him_ on the Imperial throne and get the Empire the Energix it needs,” noted Chip.

“Which is why my people are grateful for a military presence, at least until our defense systems are fully operational.” Ryner smiled, hearing the ring of the cannon lock together overhead. “I fear tumultuous times may be upon us.”

“Well, hate to leave you hanging like this then but _Explorer_ ’s been deployed to the front lines.” Chip shrugged. “We’ve been picked for recon duty.”

“Again?” Pidge was surprised. “Just because your ship is named _Explorer_ doesn’t mean it’s for recon.”

“That’s what I told Captain Newley, but he can’t exactly argue with Command.” Chip shrugged, hugging Sam. “Say hi to Aunt Colleen for me, okay?”

“Will do, kiddo.” Sam smiled as Chip left.

Meanwhile, lightyears away, a single Galra battleship was out behind enemy lines. “Central Command has confirmed the reports, Commander Branko.” a lieutenant reported. “Emperor Zarkon… is dead.”

“Then the call for the Kraal Zera should begin soon,” Branko responded. “And is our intel true, Lieutenant Letch, that Voltron is on planet Olkarion.”

“Multiple intelligence reports have said so, sir,” Letch reported.

Branko smiled, the light from his chair-side console reflecting off his cybernetic faceplate. “Excellent. Helm, set a course for Olkarion.”

On Olkarion, the _Explorer_ had already left for the border, leaving Honerva to recuperate in the Lubosia city hospital as the rest of the crew was on the Castle. Allura and Lotor were on the bridge, waiting. “They should be here any minute.”

“Excellent. We have much to discuss.” Lotor said, sounding grim.

Unfortunately for him, Allura picked up on it. “Are you okay?”

Lotor smirked a bit. “I appreciate your concern, Princess. But I’ll be fine.” Somehow Allura doubted that.

“What you did was for the greater good of the universe,” she assured. “And for many of us, myself among them, proof of your peaceful intentions.”

Lotor smiled genuinely at this before the door opened, revealing the Paladins and Admiral Sanda.

Admittedly Lance freaked out for a second, but calmed down. “Wow. It’s Prince Lotor, just broin’ out on the bridge.”

“Guess _this_ is a thing that’s happening now.” Pidge shrugged.

“I suppose we’ll all have to get used to it. Like my Zarbloovian intestinal eel.” A strange muffled screech roared from Coran’s stomach for a second there. “Easy, fella.”

“You should probably get that looked at,” Sam suggested.

Keith, however, got directly to the point. “What’s going on, Lotor?”

“As your intelligence division has reported, my father’s death has created a massive power vacuum within Imperial Space,” Lotor explained. “The most formidable leaders of the Empires will soon gather for what we know the Kraal Zera, loosely meaning Fire of Selection, sometime within the next 48 hours to decide who shall fill the empty throne. I must be there.”

“Yeah, we heard about this thing.” Shiro nodded.

“So hang on; lemme see if I have this right.” Lance clarified. “You want _us_ to fly _you_ into the middle of a meeting with all the most powerful people in the Empire?”

“Lotor, we appreciate all you’ve sacrificed, but Lance is right; this sounds suspiciously like suicide.” Allura agreed.

“We’ve been in way more dangerous situations before with much less to gain,” said Shiro. “And we _have_ been discussing putting Lotor on the throne.”

“Yeah, but we didn’t know that would mean flying straight into a war-zone.” Pidge retorted.

“And either way, we can’t just plan an op this important too quickly; we’ll risk a counter-attack.” Sanda brought up.

“We don’t have much choice.” Shiro retorted.

“I’m with Sanda.” Lance shrugged. “We need time to think about this.”

“Lance, this is not your call,” Keith ordered, surprising the Red Paladin. “Listen, Ellen, I’m first to admit we wouldn’t be here right now if it weren’t for Lotor. I suggest we listen to him.”

“Sorry, but I’m with Ellen too.” Sam agreed. “This is too risky to pull off last-minute.”

“Agreed. 4-to-3; Sanda’s favor.” Coran nodded.

“Look, guys, this isn’t a vote,” Keith noted. “I’m the commander here; this is my choice.”

“You’re the _navy_ commander, you mean.” Sven retorted. “Decisions like this need the vote of the senior Marine, and I disagree.”

“Well, the Black Lion agrees with me; I’m making this decision.” Keith retorted.

“What, like when you gave Lotor your Bayard without so much as glancing at any of the rest of us?” asked Allura.

“It worked, didn’t it? That decision killed Zarkon.” Keith excused.

“And it put the whole operation in jeopardy.” Sanda retorted. “If Lotor hadn’t gotten in that lucky stab, that shuttle and everyone aboard it would’ve been ash, including you.”

“I ended Zarkon,” Keith growled. “Now I say we finish the job.”

“Keith, calm down, we’re all on the same side here,” Lance said simply.

“I told you to butt out, Lance!” Keith growled and nearly punched his officer in the face…

And would’ve if Lance hadn’t caught it. “And I studied up on unfit commanding officers at Command for moments just like this. I’m relieving you of command of this mission.”

Ellen smiled. “Nice to see you takin’ those protocols to heart, McClain.”

Lotor just scoffed. “Whilst you all waste time squabbling like animals over a carcass, forces far more sinister than I are conspiring to fill the power void in the Imperial Space. If _I_ do not return to claim the throne, there will be no telling who will. For all we know, it may be someone even worse than my father.”

Keith smirked. “Well, it looks like that settled the matter.”

“You were relieved of command, Kogane,” Sanda said forcefully. “But I am unfortunately inclined to agree. I admit our hands are tied; this Kraal Zera is happening. If we want this war to end, Lotor has to be on the throne.”

What they didn’t know was that somehow, Haggar was watching the whole thing, focusing on Lotor. “My nephew…” Suddenly she was attacked by what could only be described as Galra ninjas. Haggar smirked and disappeared before they could kill her, but then easily kicked all their asses.

Later, one of them went to a commander with a strange glow to his eye. “Done, I take it? Good. With that witch out of the way, I will be one step closer to the throne.”

Unfortunately, the ninja then drew his sword. “ _Wrong as always, Commander Sniv._ ” That voice wasn’t that of the ninja, but of Haggar. That was the last anyone ever saw of that commander.

Along with his prisoners; Lotor’s generals. “What do you think they’re going to do to us?” asked Ezor. “We tried to help the Emperor, it’s not our fault he got killed.”

“Doesn’t matter. We won’t live long enough to see the new regime.” Acxa said gloomily. “Whoever comes through that door next will likely send us to see Narti.”

“Whoever comes through that door next is gonna get a royal ass-kicking!” Zethrid growled, but she was soon eating her words when they saw Haggar open the door.

Obviously, Ezor had to be the one to ask. “Are you here to kill us?”

“I’m here to recruit you.” the witch said simply.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the worst of it as Branko’s ship was practically at Olkarion. “Hold here. Prepare the payload and fire on my command.” The ship slowed to a halt and the commander smiled. “Seems that witch’s druids were good for something after all.”

“Payload ready, sir,” Letch reported.

“Fire.” With that one word, a torpedo shot from the ship straight toward Olkarion. Branko chuckled. “By sundown today, Galra High Command will realize that I am the only one truly worthy of the throne.” And it looked like he was right; the torpedo caused a great deal of panic amongst the people of Olkarion but the torpedo wasn’t aimed for Lubosia, it impacted in the forest, causing a massive blast.

Quickly, Ryner got on the coms. “ _Ryner to Castle of Lions; come in._ ”

“We’re here Ryner,” Coran reported. “What was that impact?”

“ _Some sort of object struck the forest outside the city,_ ” Ryner explained. “ _I believe it may be a meteoroid. Our scanners are detecting high levels of an unknown toxin emanating from impact. I’d like the Paladins to investigate._ ”

“Sorry to say it, but I’m gonna have to tag out on this,” Keith said as he walked in, wearing Blade armor. “Marmora just called me in for help on a mission. Sven, can you take Black for me?”

“I gotcha covered, man,” Sven smirked, taking the Bayard from the commander. “See ya when you get back. Daniel, you’re with me.” Quickly, the two jumped down to the Black Lion and took him out to investigate, only to find something they would wish they hadn’t.

But it wasn’t Haggar, unfortunately, who was speaking with the generals. “Until a new emperor steps in, the Empire weakens by the day.”

“Than are you planning to seize power?” asked Zethrid.

“Unfortunately, no. The empire will not accept a Drule as their ruler.” Haggar noted. “Only one of Galra blood. The Empire needs a natural-born leader, with an iron will to match his iron fist. Find him and bring him to me, and I shall pardon your past misdeeds.”

“Vrepit Sa.” they saluted.

Meanwhile, Lance was on the training deck getting some work in. He was still angry with Keith’s behavior on the bridge that morning and decided to take it out on the target-drones, but his anger was blinding him to their moves to the point where even his spear didn’t work. Finally, he growled and his bayard glowed and shifted into something else; a pair of small swords linked at the pommels which Lance quickly split and started slashing until he was done at which point he linked them back together and spun it before getting a good look at it. “Whoa-ho-ho, sick!”

“I haven’t seen that in years!” Lance was admittedly surprised when he saw Allura coming into the training area, but he liked her presence. “That’s an Altean war-pike; my grandfather King Ramon used one just like it two hundred years ago.”

Lance bounced it on his hand and found the balance just right. “I have no idea how I did this, but it’s pretty sweet.”

“I believe your bayard has just shown you what all of us have been noticing,” Allura noted. “You have greatness within you.”

Lance scoffed as he spun the weapon to his side. “I don’t think Keith’s noticed recently. One meeting where he blows up at me and poof; he’s gone.”

Allura nodded. “Yes, Keith _has_ been quite difficult as of late. I’m not sure what to do; we seem constantly to be at odds.”

Lance smirked a bit at that. “Well, when you say it like that, it makes you sound like his girlfriend.”

Allura blushed as red as Lance’s armor at that. “I- I’m not! Well… Uh, n- never mind.”

That drew Lance’s interest, but he dropped it because it might not go well. “Look, we’re all under a lot of pressure.” He shrugged, taking his helmet off and wiping his brow. “Him especially, what with Blade work. And I gotta admit, having Lotor around doesn’t exactly help.”

Allura nodded in agreement. “Sometimes it feels as if it were easier to see the Galra as brutal warlords and enemies than as compatriots.”

“Hey cmon, none of that.” Lance nodded. “We all have the Coalition’s best interests at heart, remember that. Keith isn’t the enemy here.”

Allura was surprised by this deep talk but took a deep breath and resolved to agree. “You’re right. We have to stay focused on the bigger picture.” Then she smiled. “Thank you, Lance. I have to say; you’d make a good counselor. Speaking with you has actually made me feel better.”

Lance raised an eyebrow in false confusion. “Whaddaya mean ‘actually’?”

The two couldn’t help but laugh at that, but then Allura started adjusting him. “Oh, and Lance, if you’re going to try to control a weapon this powerful…” Then she kicked him straight to the ground and disarmed him with one move. “…you’re going to need to work on your stance.”

Lance chuckled as he stood up and took the bayard back from her. “Good advice.”

Out in the woods, Sven had traced the toxin with Black’s sensors and found something unexpected. “Coran, this is Sven. I’m reading movement up ahead. Moving in to investigate.” And indeed he did, finding the craziest thing in his life. “What in Alfheim? Uh, Coran, we’ve got a big problem out here.”

“ _How big?_ ” Coran requested, concerned.

“Uh, ‘giant tree-monster with a back-mounted cannon’ big…?” And suddenly the cannon fired a massive blast at the Lion. Quickly Sven dodged it, but it was way too close. “Uh, make that ‘giant tree-monster with a back-mounted _photon_ cannon’ big. Scramble the Lions; I need back-up!”

“The virus has reached the city, Commander,” Letch reported. “The Lions have mobilized. Shall we move in?”

“Slowly,” Branko ordered. “So we may pay witness to the dawn of a new age of warfare.” And so the ship slowly started moving in as infected plants started attacking Olkari and refugees. The Army and Militia did what they could to get them away with flamethrowers, but nothing worked. Only the Castle was left unscathed as the shield was up.

“What’s going on out there, Coran?” asked Sam.

“Hard to say. This is gonna sound crazy, but it appears the forest has come to life and is attacking Lubosia. I’ve already sent the Lions to assist Sven in the woods, but they’d better get it over with quickly so they can help here.”

And the way things were going, that wouldn’t be easy as the tree-beast’s photon cannon was giving Sven a run for his money. He managed to get a few good shots off though, but they barely seemed to faze the thing before the others flew in to support. “Ryner, I’m sending you a video feed of our target. What’re we dealing with here?”

“ _Not sure. It resembles an old Olkari tree-mech._ ” Indeed, in the old days, the Olkari would defend their cities with mechs made from living wood from trees. “ _It’s almost as if something is corrupting the forest itself._ ”

“Must have something to do with that infection at the impact site.” Sven reasoned. “Pidge, get me an ID.”

“Already done; looks like some sort of invasive plasma,” Pidge reported. “Matt, Dad, I’m sending over my data. I need a more in-depth analysis.”

“ _On it._ ” Unfortunately, the tree-beast wasn’t willing to wait for the analysis as it kept firing on the Lions.

“Daniel, you ready back there?” asked Sven.

“As ever.”

“Alright team. Form Voltron!” Sven ordered.

“Flash-Form, Engaged!” Daniel roared and the Lions came together, but something was different this time. The wings detached from the Black Lion and locked onto Red, which then moved to the center of Voltron with a similar face-plate to Voltron forming, but black in the red areas on the usual faceplate and the Black Lion as the right hand.

“Whoa! What?!” Lance was right to ask as he found himself in the control circle. “What the heck just happened?”

“Ask the kid,” suggested Sven, pointing at Vince who now had his own terminal in the back with a multi-colored star in it and holographic read-outs in front of him.

“Vince, what’s going on?” asked Lance.

“I don’t know.” he excused. “I just found this red star-point in the cockpit and touched it. Next thing I know… this!”

“Well, what’s Voltron calling it?” asked Hunk.

Vince listened and was met with something confusing. “It’s called… the Voltron Nexus.”

“Wait, so does this mean we could _all_ have turns being the Head of Voltron, not just Black?” asked Lance. “AWESOME! Alright big guy, let’s see what you can give me.” He pulled out his Bayard and was met with something he _loved_. “Oh yeah, baby. Form Magma Lance.” With that order and a quick slam of his hands, a massive red spear formed in Voltron’s hands with a similar one forming from Lance’s bayard in _his_ hands. Quickly, he flew in full-tilt with the spear before he threw it straight down the barrel of the cannon as it was charging, stopping it dead with the impact pushing both fighters back a good distance before the spear returned to Voltron’s hand. “Alright boys, let’s finish this.”

“Uh… Yellow won’t move!” Hunk reported.

Allura grunted with her controls. “Neither can Blue! These vines are restricting our movements!” And indeed, infected plant-life was forming all over Voltron’s body, paralyzing the knight.

“Pidge, can Green get loose?” Lance asked.

“Negative. We’re trapped.” Pidge reported.

“Yeah, Black’s stuck too,” Sven reported.

“Sorry Ryner, we bought you all the time we could,” Lance reported. “Hope you’ve got that cannon working.” That was the last thing he could report before Voltron was consumed in a wooden cocoon… which then started floating before the tree-beast roared away toward the city.

Ryner looked at the systems and grimaced; the cannon could do one shot but that was it. So she would have to make it count. “Divert all power to the cannon and prepare to fire!”

“Yes ma’am!” reported the operators as the cannon roared to life.

“Initiating target-lock!” one reported.

“Charge at 30%...” reported another. “70%...”

“Target acquired!” reported the first one.

“Power at 95%!” the second one reported.

“Prepare to fire!” Ryner ordered… but suddenly the cannon died.

“We’re losing power!” reported a third officer.

“What’s happening?” Ryner’s question was answered when the vines crashed through the walls of the tower and destroyed the cannon. Ryner quickly tried to use her Olkari abilities to her advantage, but nothing worked.

Thankfully, Sam and Matt had managed to finish their analysis of Pidge’s data. “Of course; it’s a computer virus. This plasma is self-replicating organic wetware.” Matt realized. “Which then creates a single expanding system so it can interface with nature like Olkari.”

“Quiznak!” Coran growled. “We’d better come up with an anti-virus somehow, because Voltron just went offline.”

Sam smirked. “If this plasma mass has the properties of a computer, then we don’t need an anti-virus; we just need to find some way to hack into it and shut it down from inside.”

“Eh, conceivably.” Matt nodded. “We’d just need an interface.”

“I think Ryner’s got that covered,” Sam smirked as he ran out of the castle. “Follow me!”

Inside the cocoon, the Paladins growled and did all they could to move, but not even Lance could so much as budge so he had to disengage the control circle. “Alright, comments anyone?” he asked.

“This virus is affecting Voltron on a sub-molecular level,” Pidge reported. “If we want to drive it out, we have to tap into the quantum energy that binds us to Voltron.”

“Our Defense Marks!” Lance realized, his Mark glowing red. “They’re our connection to the Lions. If we can connect them to Voltron, we might get enough power to drive the virus out.”

“The Bayards! They amplify the Paladins’ inner Energix.” Allura noted, pulling hers out. “We have to lock them in.”

“Worth a shot!” Sven noted, but then grunted as they felt something moving them. “Coran, if you can hear me, what’s happening?”

Coran did manage to hear it, but was too worried as Branko’s ship had finally arrived and was tractoring the cocoon aboard. “So this _is_ the Galra’s doing.”

At the tower, Sam and Matt had just arrived to find Ryner still trying to communicate with the trees. “What’s the sitrep, Ryner?”

“The cannon is down. I’m trying to interface to stop the vine’s growth, but the nanocellulose won’t respond.”

“We don’t need to stop it; just redirect it,” Matt explained.

“Grab a headpiece and demonstrate.” Matt quickly did so, donning a wooden headband and connecting with the vines. Binary-coded messages quickly flowed from their minds to the plants and changed their glow from Galra purple to a bright green.

On Voltron, all the Paladins had been given powerful bayard-locks like on their speeders and quickly moved to activate them, their Defense Marks glowing brighter than before. “Three! Two! One!” Lance ordered, and all the Bayards were locked in.

A bright flash filled the cockpit and revealed the Paladins in Link Space, but Sven wasn’t with them. Everyone called out to try and get his attention, but it didn’t seem to work for a second before he ghosted in. Once he did, their points connected and glowed before they were all warped out. “ _Lance… Lance, listen to me…_ ” Sven said, but Lance couldn’t make it out.

“ _What?_ ” Too late; they were already warped back to the cockpit… and Voltron reactivated, glowing bright blue and breaking from the cocoon like hatching from an egg in a massive blast.

Branko’s crew reported this and the commander quickly ordered a full volley. Lance had blacked out somehow, and was hovering in the control circle as Voltron responded to the others’ commands. He woke up just in time for the cruiser to be attacked by a massive green blast, destroying it. Voltron looked and saw it came from the hyper-ion cannon. Sam and Matt had succeeded.

“ _Ryner to Voltron; the tree-beast is still en route to the city! You must destroy it!_ ”

“Fine by me,” Lance growled, flying Voltron straight in, just in time to parry a photon blast from the beast aimed at the tower. “Let’s do this!” Voltron charged in at the beast full-tilt with the whole crew yelling a battle-cry as they pushed it out of town.

Then the beast latched onto Voltron with wooden tendrils. “Oh no! It’s trying to absorb us!” Pidge reported. Lance struggled as best he could but Voltron would barely respond. Then his spear shifted into something else; a massive flaming knuckle-duster on his right hand… which was free. Voltron gained a similar duster and Lance smirked, before he delivered a devastating right hook, vaporizing the beast. Cheers echoed from the city and the cockpit at Lance’s move as the control circle deactivated and Lance dropped to his knees to relax.

Hours later, the clean-up was still in-progress when Keith returned from his mission, surprised to find Voltron with a red center and all the Paladins resting on his shoulders. “Whoa. What’d I miss?”

“Too much to explain, boss,” Lance smirked. “Sum it up, Voltron is even cooler than we thought.”

Sam was with them too and sighed at his children. “Y’know kids, times like this… they make me think I’m gettin’ too old for the front lines.”

Pidge was surprised to hear this. “You’re not considering retiring, are you, Dad?”

“No-no, nothing like that,” Sam smirked. “But… I think I would like to transition out for service at the Garrison. Besides, the whole universe is already finding out what I’ve known all along; you kids are somethin’ else.”

Pidge smiled. “Thanks, Dad.” She jumped into a hug with him and smiled.

Lance smirked at this display, but something occurred to him. “Hey, Sven. When we were in Link-Space, I heard you were trying to yell somethin’ at me… what was it?”

Sven shrugged. “Can’t really remember. Things went kinda blank there for a second. Mm, probably nothing important.”

“Well, either way, good work out there today team,” Keith smirked, smiling at Lance. “Sorry about yelling at you this morning.”

Lance smiled, clapping hands with his commander. “Water under the bridge, boss. But you _are_ right about one thing; until Lotor takes the throne, these sorts of random attacks will just happen more and more often. We have to stop it.”

And it appeared Haggar had a similar plan as the generals returned to her sanctum. “Look who we found.” Ezor smiled as she stepped to the side, revealing the warrior who would be the Paladins’ worst nightmare.


	62. Kraal Zera

The attack on Olkarion was unexpected, as the whole Guardian Force agreed, but there wasn’t much they could do about it except listen to Lotor at Olkarion Air Control when the _Explorer_ returned to the shipyards, with the Joint Chiefs of Staff on a holo-com channel. “I’m telling you, Branko’s wanton attack is just the beginning. With no one to fill the throne, more and more high-ranking officials in the Empire are going to start lashing out and consolidating their power for the Kraal Zera.”

“Uh, really quick; just gonna jump in here – what _is_ the Kraal Zera anyway? We heard Zarkon mention it in some of Alfor’s memory engrams, but we don’t know anything about it.” Jeff was right; the crew had no idea what they were getting into.

“It’s Galran for ‘Fire of Selection’, and serves as the coronation ceremony for a new ruler of the Empire,” Lotor explained. “It is held atop the highest peak on planet Korrinoth; the volcano known as Naraku’s Gate.”

“Poetic name.” Lisa smiled. “Is there a story behind that?” This drew a confused glance from Jeff. “What? I’m a Diplomatic Corps officer; this is what we do – learn all we can about a potentially allied race. Plus, I’m just personally curious.”

“Far be it from us to stand in the way of curiosity or diplomacy.” Lotor smiled. “But it would work better with visuals.” He looked at Ryner with a questioning expression. “With your permission?”

“Granted.” Ryner nodded and Lotor plugged a drive into the computer system, presenting images of what was assumed to be ancient Galra texts similar to Egyptian hieroglyphs.

“Before the Empire began, the Galra were no different than you humans were in your past; warring factions of fools who would rather squabble over where borders fell and who traded with whom than solve the real problems that befell Korrinoth… until the Great War.” The hieroglyphs presented what appeared to be a massive battle, with one Galra against an army. “The planet was thrown into turmoil and chaos, but it was not because of any border skirmish or anything like that. It was because of the Chalice of Blackness; a mystic reliquary that fed the Galra’s hatred of each other, said to have been made by the Galra’s old god of darkness; Naraku. Finally, one warrior known as Bhorn discovered this fact and sought to destroy the Chalice, tossing it into the volcano from whence it was forged which we believed to be a doorway to the Galran underworld. Its magic broken, the war ended and all bowed to Bhorn the Liberator; first ruler of the Galra Empire. In the years since, a massive shrine was built atop the mountain where the Empire has chosen its rulers since.” Lotor smiled as he finished that story, and even more when he saw Lisa was taking notes.

Keith quickly got the meeting back on track. “So who all will be at this Kraal Zera?”

Lotor smirked at Keith as he removed the first drive and produced another one. “These people.” With that, he plugged the drive into the computer and presented several different files, beginning with one large soldier with twin plasma-sickles for weapons. “Warlord Ranveig is one of the deadliest soldiers in the Empire… which is why my father banished him to the Empire’s farthest border; to avoid him leading what you humans call a coup d'état. Though I have heard rumors he’s made his way to the front lines of the war and fought a number of skirmishes.”

“Warlord, huh? Guessing that’s not a title one earns by being nice.” Lance assumed.

“Quite correct. Warlord is the highest official rank a Galra soldier can attain, earning his House massive influence in the Empire, so he will undoubtedly have several factions pledging their allegiance to him already.” Lotor continued, proceeding to a female soldier. “Commander Gnov was one of Yurak’s, and therefore Zarkon’s, most trusted advisors. If I’m correct, she will plan to unify my father’s inner circle of commanders. She’ll be up-front so they will know what siding with her will get them. She may not be as reckless as Ranveig, but if anything she’s even crueler than he is.” Then a familiar face came up. “I believe you’re already acquainted with Quartermaster Janka.”

“Yeah, we’ve met. Not a fan.” Sven noted.

“Which is more than could be said for many in the Empire; his trade-schemes and supply routes have won over hundreds of planets purely through economic trickery. He is perhaps the purest example in the universe of the power of bureaucracy.” Lotor explained.

“I’ve looked at his supply chain management from some of the Blade data-grabs,” Pidge noted. “He’s honestly pretty epic. He even color-codes.”

“So, organized evil. That somehow sounds worse.” Rocky noted.

“Not as bad as Duchess Merla.” The dark noblewoman quickly popped up on the screen as well. “Her House holds the least imperial territory and property, even after I made the mistake of returning what little she did have to her, but that is not where her true power lies. She holds some minor control over the mystic arts, allowing her to manipulate the minds of any who serve her goals. With her powers, she will no doubt have several factions pledging their unknowing loyalty to her.”

“Great. Just what we needed; a crazy telepath.” Lance groaned.

“That’s not the worst of them.” Lotor then brought up two more men. “Throk is the viceroy to Korrinoth’s sister planet; the Drule homeworld. He’s as cold, cunning, and calculating as you can get and wishes for nothing more than to further my father’s wishes for the empire. But he is overshadowed by Chancellor Mozak; leader of the Galra High Council, he shares my vision for the Empire and wishes for an end to this mindless bloodshed.”

“So screw Throk, ally with Mozak; is that what you’re saying?” asked Cliff. Lotor wiggled his hand unsurely in response. “Alright, is that all of them?”

“All except for one; Zarkon’s witch Haggar.” The witch’s image made all on the deck scowl.

“We’ve met. Not a fan.” Shiro noted.

“Few are, especially within the Empire.” Lotor agreed. “She is the most dangerous of all of them. Since she is a Drule – and therefore ineligible to take the throne – she undoubtedly already has a puppet of some sort; someone she can control and manipulate from the shadows. If even _Merla_ was smart, she would unite the empire to destroy her. If Haggar’s puppet takes the throne, killing my father will have been for naught.”

“Then we can’t risk any of them taking the throne,” Keith noted. “I put forward that we assist Lotor in taking command of the Empire.”

“ _Kogane, we’ve discussed this,_ ” Sanda noted. “ _It’s too risky._ ”

“I’m with her. Why not let them fight with each other a while before we do anything?” suggested Lance.

“Because we don’t have time,” Keith noted. “You were Voltron’s center during that attack on Olkarion, Lance. That was just _one_ renegade commander angling for the throne. When the Galra lash out, the whole universe suffers.”

“Sure, but there’s just one thing we’re all seemingly ignoring; how are we supposed to even get Lotor to the shrine without stirring up a huge fight?”

“Easy,” Lotor noted. “I’ll be bringing Voltron.”

This shocked everyone present and rendered them speechless… before Hunk spoke up. “Yeah, because Voltron never gets into fights.”

“ _Thoroughly out of the question._ ” Admiral Ford noted. “ _Commander Kogane, we cannot allow this to happen._ ”

Keith took a deep breath. “Sorry to hear that, sir.” Then without another word, Keith cut the com-link channel.

“Keith, bring them back now; that’s an order,” Shiro growled.

“You know I can’t do that, Shiro.” Keith scowled.

“Dammit Keith, those people are the heads of the entire Galactic Coalition military.”

“And if we don’t get Lotor on the throne, there won’t _be_ a Galactic Coalition,” Keith argued. “We’re doing this and that’s that.” With that, he left for the Castle.

“Yeesh. What’s with him?” asked Jeff.

Lance glanced at him, and then back after his commander. “I wish I knew, Jeff. I wish I knew.”

Far out in space, Ranveig’s ship received a transmission from somewhere on Korrinoth. “Warlord Ranveig, the Archivist has made the summons.” a lieutenant reported.

“Excellent. Set course for the docks of Naraku’s Gate.” Ranveig ordered. “It is time for the House of Ranveig to burn with the glory of the Kraal Zera and take my place on the throne.”

What he didn’t know was that he had some stowaways on his ship in Blade armor. Among them was Dorma, admittedly nervous about this operation since she knew her father and brother would be there as well.

Not long after, a massive fleet of battle-cruisers orbited Korrinoth over a single point on the planet; a massive volcano with a large temple-like arena at the peak. And atop a staircase there, stood a large pyre with a single flame. Soldiers and nobles looked at each other with utter disdain and ambition focused on the torch.

“Avert your gaze, salaryman,” Gnov ordered Janka. “The throne is for real fighters, not for prisoners.”

Janka scoffed. “I’ve conquered more civilizations than you know to exist with a single word and a swipe of my finger. You are nothing to me.”

Merla gave a curt scoff as she fed her bird. “Please, Janka. Compared to me, everyone here is an insect.”

At last, Ranveig’s ship arrived at the docks which allowed the Blades the chance to go over their plan. “Alright remember; when we get down there, plant one bomb on every load-bearing column.” one Blade ordered.

Dorma was still unsure of this but took the bomb anyway. “Yes, Sister Ilun.” With that, they jumped overboard before the ship landed.

A loud horn sounded and all attention was focused on the pyre. “The Archivist has come,” Janka noted.

The Archivist was an ancient Galra man with an advanced life-support system grafted to his body. “Through thirty-three leaders, during times of peace and times of expanse, this flame has burned for over thirteen millennia. From our first; Bhorn the Liberator, to Meer the Ignoble, to Skath the Scandalous, to Lirinska the Vicious, to Krai Soltorn the Destructive, to Xarnaren the Official, to Grae the Spiritual, to Vyrketh the Young, to Brodar the Dangerous, to Vrig the Great, and longest and most powerful of all… Zarkon the Conquerer. But his time has passed.” As if on cue, the fire died to symbolize the end of Zarkon’s reign. “Our next ruler must ascent the steps of destiny and relight the Kraal Zera.”

No one dared move first, except for one egotistical-seeming commander. But before he could touch one of the torches in the pit of magma before him, he was stabbed from behind and raised by a sickle in his back… wielded by Warlord Ranveig. “Arrogant fool.” With one move, the commander was tossed aside like a ragdoll from the blade, bleeding to death. “Only the strongest may lay their hands upon the torches. Which is why _I_ will assume command. I have been on the frontlines of not only the empire’s expanse but also our new war with the Coalition, where steel meets soul, spreading the glory of the empire, not huddled in the center overseeing already-conquered worlds, growing fat on the victories of our forebearers.” He raised a torch with a vicious scowl, asking any to challenge him.

And someone did. “Warlord Ranveig speaks the truth!” It was Haggar. “That is why Yurak, purest of the Galra, should have the honor of lighting the flame.” And indeed, Yurak had returned now with an upgraded and more vicious-looking prosthetic arm. “He was Zarkon’s right hand for centuries, and he will lead the empire for ten thousand more.”

Viceroy Throk was admittedly frightened by this turn of events. “The witch has allied herself with Yurak.” Resolving to swallow his pride, he approached Mozak, Hazar, and Gnov. “Perhaps we should put our differences behind us. The only way those two can be stopped is through cooperation.”

Mozak smirked. “I’m surprised at you, Throk. I didn’t expect you to wish to ally yourself with me so easily.”

“Why would _I_ partner with a couple of weak politicians?” Gnov retorted and walked away.

Ranveig meanwhile laughed. “Yurak, who disappeared as the Empire crumbled around us?” he goaded. “Yurak, who requires a witch to speak on his behalf?”

“Silence!” the soldier ordered, charging something in his arm. “Victory or death; that is our way!”

“I could not agree more.” Ranveig smiled, returning his torch to the pit. “Now all shall see why Zarkon stationed me in the most dangerous territory in the Empire!” Quickly he drew his sickles for combat and the two clashed in an epic brawl until Yurak’s new arm, which was apparently extendable, turned the tide by slamming the warlord into a wall before it returned to him.

Down below, the Blades were proceeding with their plan of planting the bombs.

But as Yurak was ascending the steps, torch in hand, a massive whoosh echoed through the mountains. And from over the peak soared Voltron, fully formed with the black center before it touched down just on the edge of the arena with all the Paladins in the cockpit along with Lotor, snuffing Yurak’s torch. “Full disclosure; I’m a little concerned about how you managed to talk us into this Keith,” Lance noted.

“Your concern is noted, as is the fact that if this doesn’t pan out, we’ll all be facing court-martial for disobeying orders,” Keith noted. “But if there are no complaints, I suggest we hide and let Lotor do his job.” So they all quickly did so, sending their seats down to the Lions’ heads to hide and sealing the holes.

Outside, Dorma had heard the landing and ran out to check what was happening. And was terrified. “Ilun, Vrek, we have to abort the mission! Voltron is here!”

“ _Too late; the charges are armed and the timers are set,_ ” Ilun reported. “ _There’s no going back._ ”

“Yes, there is.” Quickly Dorma ran back into the tunnel to try and stop the bombs…

As Lotor strode from Voltron’s chest. “All shall kneel before their true emperor!” Haggar and Lotor’s old generals all scowled at the prince, knowing this might not go well as Lotor walked down to the arena floor, sword in hand.

Yurak was in awe. “You? Lead the Galra Empire? HA! Don’t make me laugh! What could possibly make you think you are worthy of the throne?”

“Because, Yurak, the blood of Zarkon the Conqueror is not only in my veins.” Lotor raised his sword to the commander. “It is also upon my blade. My father fell by _my_ hand and anyone who stands in my way shall suffer the same fate!”

“You believe treachery and the murder of your own father makes you qualified to lead us?” asked Yurak.

“No, but I believe doing what my father and no one else ever could does.” Lotor smiled, pointing to the great knight before him. “I return not only the Black Lion, but all of Voltron, to the Galra Empire! Now stand aside Yurak, or your blood will join my father’s as rust on my sword.”

Yurak chuckled as he tossed his torch aside. “I will only stand aside if you prove yourself, through honorable rite of combat! To the death!” A massive plasma-blade shot from the commander’s prosthetic arm.

“Indeed!” Lotor readied his sword for battle.

“Enough!” Merla ordered, dropping her cloak and drawing two short-swords of her own. “Neither of you can lead the Empire!”

“And what? Do you think you can stop me, temptress? Or perhaps the witch herself to cut her puppet’s strings?” asked Lotor.

“The blood that so bolsters your claim, Lotor, is also what quells it.” Haggar hissed. “You are not pure Galra. You are a half-blood. Your mother was Honerva Inded of Altea.”

“You mean her, witch?” And from Voltron’s chest emerged the almost fully-healed scientist herself. “All here know my lineage, but do they know that my father enslaved my mother after the first war was declared? Either way, my blood will not keep me from the throne.”

“Indeed not.” Merla smiled, charging. “I believe that’s my job!”

Down below, Dorma was racing to disarm charges and save the Paladins but she was running out of time…

As was Lotor, as he quickly knocked Merla away and walked toward the steps with a lit torch in hand. “Now I take what is mine. I am lighting this flame, and my first act as ruler will be to reunite Yurak with my late father!” With that, he charged up the stairs.

“The only way you will ever ascend Naraku’s Gate is as a ghost!” yelled Yurak, charging at the prince and clashing with him in an epic battle.

Unfortunately, Ilun and Vrek found Dorma disarming the charges. “What the hell are you doing? We have to leave, now!” ordered Ilun.

“No! Lotor and the Paladins are up there, not to mention my family!” Dorma insisted, disarming another bomb.

“Fine. Then you will die with them.” With that, Ilun and Vrek left…

Leaving the battle upstairs raging on as Merla got into the fight as well, clashing with both participants. Lotor drew a second sword to clash with them properly and they all growled as they locked weapons. “You don’t even know what you are, Yurak!” Lotor growled.

“For once, I’m inclined to agree.” Merla snickered. “So loyal, so brave, and yet so dimwitted.”

“Do not try to tempt me, Merla! I know exactly what I am! I am a warrior!” Yurak bellowed, blowing them both away with a plasma-bolt.

“You are nothing but Haggar’s puppet!” Lotor yelled. “And I shall cut your strings!” Yurak’s arm shot past and he quickly followed it, accidentally punching the prince straight to the top of the stairs before the battle completed.

Dorma was still running out of time, and quickly resolved that she had disarmed enough and ran away as the battle raged on… before she tackled Lotor to the ground and safety, severely confusing everyone as her helmet came off.

“Dorma?!” Mozak was especially surprised… but not as much as Yurak was when the bomb explosion hit him right in the face and blasted him down the stairs before the whole temple started to explode.

Lotor slowly pulled himself up before Yurak burst out of the rubble, a bit singed but none the worse for wear otherwise. Merla growled as she knew what this might’ve meant. “Lotor has betrayed the Empire to the Coalition! All ships, destroy Voltron!” Quickly, all the ships in both Merla’s and Yurak’s fleets started firing on the great knight.

Thankfully, after Honerva’s appearance, the cockpit sealed again and the Paladins returned to their positions. “Time to get serious!” Lance noted.

“Let’s do this! Form Blazing Sword!” Keith yelled and Voltron drew its massive blade, charging at the fleet.

Knowing this would only really end one way, soldiers and warriors all around the arena started fighting for the honor of the torch as not only Voltron, but even other Galra fleets opened fire on each other, blasting ships out of the sky.

Lotor growled as he stood. “This is exactly what I wanted to avoid. I _knew_ they would all turn on each other like this.” Suddenly his attention was swayed by Yurak charging in and clashing with the prince again.

Merla nearly did the same, but Dorma quickly parried and knocked her away. “I’ve got this; go!”

Lotor tried, but Yurak gave no quarter and didn’t allow him anywhere near the torches. “Killing you would be a mercy you do not deserve!” he growled. “Once I am emperor, I am going to keep you alive as my slave!” Sven quickly took control of Voltron’s right hand to allow Lance to get in on the action down below, and just in time as Acxa had just gotten a bead on Dorma with her pistol, but Lance quickly blocked it with his shield, allowing Dorma to defeat Gnov with one quick kick to the face.

Acxa nearly did something, but just left along with Haggar and the other generals. But Lance had to say something. “HEY!” That drew her attention as she looked back at him. “I have to know; who were you?”

Acxa was confused at the wording, but then remembered and gave a small smirk. “You know that already, Lancer.” With that, she left. Lance was almost paralyzed; the only person who’d ever called him Lancer was… his ex. “Should we get Yurak?”

“Don’t bother. The Empire has fallen.” Haggar growled as they left, allowing the fleet and the arena to be laid to ruin.

Yurak tried to look around at the devastation, but… “Yurak!” Lotor didn’t allow him that courtesy and attacked, but Yurak quickly parried to escape, finding Janka attempting to escape in a fighter and holding him off a cliff with his prosthesis.

“Yurak please, I- We could work together.” he tried to bargain. “Brains and brawn; a joint leadership. Stronger than any the empire has ever seen.”

“There is a quote from human fiction I find apropos in this manner, Janka,” Yurak growled. “‘There can be only one’. Your fleet is mine.” With that, he released his grip and sent the quartermaster falling to his death off the cliff before he claimed a fighter.

With his opponent gone and all others fleeing, Lotor strode triumphantly up the steps of destiny, a torch in one hand and his sword in the other, blood dripping down from his mouth as Voltron looked on. Lotor glared at the oil in the pyre for a moment before he raised his torch. “By this mace of liquid flame, to the Galra throne, I lay my claim!” With that, he slammed the torch into the oil causing a burning splash before the fire spread up to the top of the pyre.

“The Kraal Zera is lit!” the Archivist bellowed. “All hail the new Emperor! All Hail Lotor!” All still present knelt and bowed to Lotor and Voltron.

“All Hail Lotor! All Hail Lotor!” they chanted, ushering in a new age for the universe. The war was over… for now…


	63. The Palace

" _Commander’s Log; November 20 th, 2057 1142 Hours Altean Central Standard Time. It’s been two days since the Kraal Zera and already things have been going down the drain; Galra officials have fled their posts in the Empire, refusing to follow Lotor as their emperor which has caused a sudden civil war. And on a more personal level, our resident Blade officer Dorma has left for an extended mission and Commander Sam Holt has applied to return to his position at the Garrison on Earth. We’re gonna miss him out here on the frontier, but Earth needs him. If these Galra rebels bring their war to Coalition Space, we have to make sure the homefront is secure._”

“End log.” Keith ended his log just as he emerged into the shuttle-bay to find the others already wishing Sam a good trip.

“Soon as I get back, I’ll get the Garrison working on upgrading the Sol System’s defense network and start spreading those upgrades across the rest of the Coalition,” Sam explained.

“Do me a favor buddy; tell Major Iverson that next time I see him, I’m gonna kick his ass for quarantining me so long on Mars last week,” Shiro smirked.

Sam chuckled. “I’ll be sure to pass that along. And I’ll make sure Admiral Ashmore gets all your exam results.”

“Hey real quick, I also had everyone on the Guardian Force record some personal messages for their families; we didn’t really wanna use official Starfleet channels to send them.” Hunk noted, handing forward a data-drive. “Little heads-up; I got a little teary-eyed in mine so… y’know… Code 47 on that one.” Code 47 implied captain’s eyes only, but in these circumstances, Sam was positive it meant _mom_ ’s eyes only.

“Copy that, Commander.” He gladly took the drive and hid it in his uniform’s pocket.

“Oh, and you probably don’t wanna see Lance’s either, cause it’s probably just a lurve message to Jenny Shaybon.” Naturally, Lance got unbelievably pissed about this. “Or was it that other Jenny? Y’know, the one Kinkade dated once? What was her name again?”

“Will you shut up, Hunk?” Lance barked, turning away in a huff.

“Okay, I was just screwin’ with ya. Jeez.” Hunk shrugged.

“You okay, dude?” asked Keith.

Lance just took a deep breath. “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just… While I was recording that message, I kinda realized something; I’m like the worst son ever.” Clearly, everyone else required some context on that statement. “I’ve been back to Earth _twice_ since this madness started, and I haven’t checked in with my folks at all in that time. Or even on subspace channels out here. So y’know, I started thinkin’ about my parents, my brothers and sisters, my niece and nephew and-” Here, he had to cover his eyes with his sleeve and walk away for a second.

“Dude, are you crying?” asked Sven, genuinely concerned.

“No! I-I just…” Lance sighed, pinching away some tears. “Yeah, I’m crying. I can’t help it. You know how it is.”

“I know what you mean, man.” Hunk nodded. “I think I actually missed checking in with my parents after the court-martial. But my folks understand I work hard out here. I’m sure yours do too.”

Lance smiled, clapping hands with Hunk. “Thanks, dude.”

Sam smiled at this, giving his kids one last hug before he left. “I love you guys.”

“We love you too Dad.” Pidge nodded into the hug.

Once they broke it, Sam looked to Shiro and saluted. “Permission to disembark.”

Shiro smiled and saluted right back at him. “Permission granted.” With that, all hands retreated to a safe distance from the shuttle as Sam flew it away through the atmospheric force-field in the hangar before warping toward Earth.

Pidge let a few tears fall as well, but Keith placed a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll see him again. In the meantime, we have a mission of our own.”

“He’s right; we’re needed on Korrinoth. President Archer isn’t gonna get herself there.” Shiro was right; President Archer had recently come aboard the Castle to for transport to planet Korrinoth to meet with Lotor. “Lance, get to the helm and set a course. All other hands, report to stations.” All the officers quickly did so and soon the ship was on its way to the Galra border, where they soon met up with the _Explorer_.

Once close to the border, Pidge received a message. “We’re being hailed.”

“Open a channel,” Shiro ordered, met with a gruff voice.

“ _This is Galra Star Control Post Alpha-Xindi-4. Identify yourself._ ”

“This is Rear Admiral Takashi Shirogane of the Castle of Lions and speaking on behalf of Captain Rick Newley of _GCS Explorer_ , requesting passage to Korrinoth Space-Docks. President Bethany Archer of Earth is here to meet with the Emperor.” Shiro reported.

“ _Stand by._ ” The officer seemed to look away to check something before returning to the channel. “ _Castle of Lions and_ Explorer _, you are clear to enter Galra space and make your way to Korrinoth Space-Docks. Route transmitted; a security team will meet you at the space-docks and escort you to the Imperial Palace._ ”

“Acknowledged. Glory to the Empire.” Shiro reported.

“ _Vrepit Sa._ ” With that, the channel was terminated and both ships soon made their way to Korrinoth where they easily docked at the large port in what looked like the capital city of the planet and the Empire.

All crews soon left the ships and were met by Ultra-Black Corps soldiers. “We have been ordered to escort you to the Imperial Palace.” said the commander.

“Carry on,” Shiro ordered and the soldiers easily led the way for the crews all the way to the massive palace, docked in what looked like a launch pit.

“Hard to believe we’re going into the belly of the beast like this,” Lance noted.

“Not to mention the fact that last time we were anywhere near this thing, we were _fightin’_ the Galra,” Shannon noted. “Now we’re makin’ nice with ‘em.”

“I agree, but we have to do all we can to support Lotor,” Lisa noted. “This is our chance to start a new era of peace across the universe.”

Finally, they had arrived and the commander stepped forward. “Great Emperor, I present the Coalition Starfleet’s 1st Guardian Force and Earth President Bethany Archer.” With that, the sentries stood aside and allowed the soldiers through with the president.

“Ah, excellent. Welcome to Sarrinoth, friends.” Lotor smiled, as a large banner unfurled with a familiar symbol on it; the same as the one on the Green Lion’s shield. “I’ve commissioned a new imperial banner to herald our alliance. I believe you remember, Allura, that this is the same symbol that flew over our fathers when they worked together as the original Paladins. I sincerely hope we can return the universe to that golden age.”

“That’s a hope I can assure you we share, Your Highness.” President Archer smiled, extending a hand. Lotor smiled and gladly accepted it in a handshake.

“I am happy to hear that, but I’m afraid it won’t be easy.” he sighed. “I’m sure you’ve heard about this, but since my ascension to the throne, the Empire has been torn apart. A sizable portion has sworn its allegiance to me, including Chancellor Mozak and several other members of the Supreme Council and the Drule Collective, but massive factions remain in revolt.”

This caused a bit of suspicion from some of the crewmen. “No offense intended Lotor, but your people aren’t exactly known for turning the other cheek,” Jeff noted.

“They’re more likely to swing the other fist.” Lance agreed. “How’d you get an intergalactic Empire of warriors who’ve only known bloodshed for centuries to drop their swords?”

“Simple. By providing them with the very thing they’re fighting for; unlimited amounts of Energix.” Lotor smiled as he glanced at Allura. “And you, my princess, are the key to getting it.” Allura blushed a bit which seemed to anger Keith, but Lotor didn’t notice as he stepped away and turned to the crew at large. “But we’ll leave that to the future. I’m sure you’ll be interested in inspecting every aspect of Galra society.”

“As a matter of fact, you’re right,” Shiro noted. “Rick and I were hoping we could cross-reference our star-charts with current Galra troop locations.”

“Consider it done. Marshall Keezor can easily help with it.” A Galra council-member stepped forward with a pad.

“You want to sync _our_ intelligence to the Galra Empire’s central computer?” asked Coran. “Well, I never thought I’d see the quiznacking day.”

“If you would follow me to the record room, you will find everything you need,” Keezor asked, leading the commanding officers and Coran away, accompanied by a fully synthetic sentry droid.

“I’ll be leaving the rest of you with a personal escort of soldiers and androids which will take you wherever you wish.” Lotor nodded to the others. “Come with me, Allura. My mother is expecting us and we have much work to be done.” With that, the two left the main antechamber, leaving Keith in a foul mood. He attempted to follow, but the sentry stopped him. He tried to fight the droid’s powerful arm-strength but found it impossible to do so.

“I wouldn’t try anymore if I were you.” a voice suggested. Everyone looked off to the right and saw a large soldier in armor nearby. “These sentries are much less merciless than any Galra cyborg. I should know; I was in charge of their initial design.”

“And you are?” asked Sven.

“I am General Mogor, senior military advisor to Emperor Lotor,” he noted. “I am honored to be in the presence of such esteemed warriors.”

“The honor is all ours, General.” Ginger smiled. “Captain Patricia Ellington; GCMC. Friends call me Ginger.” the general seemed confused about this nickname, so Ginger felt she should explain. “Basically the first thing I ate when I was a kid were these little Earth cookies called ginger snaps, so he took to calling me Ginger.”

“I see. Well, if there is anything you should wish to see, my officers are at your disposal.” Mogor nodded.

“Well, the professor and I would be interested in learning about Galra fields of study.” Tagor nodded. “Maybe even comparing notes with some scientists.”

“I was actually hopin’ to do the same thing with some medical experts,” Shannon noted.

“Of course; the Ministry of Science is in the northern part of the city and the Ministry of Medicine is to the northeast,” Mogor noted.

“Well, if it’s alright, we Marines were hoping to get a look at some training grounds,” Hutch smirked.

“And I’d like to get a look at some imperial ship-tech,” noted Cliff. “See if there’s any way I can boost performance in any subsystems.”

“Certainly. There is a training ground right outside the palace and the main drydock is at Orbital Outpost 12.” Mogor noted. “And should any among you wish to meet with the Supreme Council, their building is not three buildings down.”

This intrigued Cinda as she glanced at Lisa. “You thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?”

“Definitely. Madam President?” Lisa smirked.

“Absolutely.” With nothing else to say, everyone left for their respective destinations (with Keith leaving with the Marines), leaving just Lance, Hunk, and Pidge in the central chamber of the Palace with a sentry.

“So… we’re free to just roam around the Galra Palace and have some fun?” Hunk asked.

“What is ‘fun’?” the sentry asked in a monotone voice.

Lance slid up and smirked. “You, mi amigo, are about to find out.”

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Lance, it’s a robot. It can’t have fun.” Then something occurred to her. “Unless… we reprogram it with some of Klaus’ memories!”

“Take us to the sentry repair center!” Hunk said quickly, definitely getting into that idea.

It didn’t take long for the Paladins to get Klaus off the _Explorer_ to help reprogram the sentry in the maintenance center. “Reconfigured processor implanted,” Pidge asked.

“Check!” Hunk reported.

“All systems rewired for optimal fun performance.”

“Checkity-check.”

“Now… just gotta upload some of Klaus’ data and we’re good to go,” Pidge noted. “You ready, Klaus?”

“Built ready, Pidge.” the android reported. “But I’m not sure I like the idea of actually pluggin’ myself into this thing, so I just downloaded my basic fun program into this.” He handed over a data-clip with what looked like balloons on it in marker.

“Alright, let’s do this.” Pidge quickly plugged the clip into her computer and transferred all the data from it into the sentry’s central processor. “There we go; all done.” Quickly she unplugged her computer from the sentry and high-fived with Hunk and Klaus.

But the sentry didn’t move for a while. “So how do we know if it worked?”

“How did you know it worked for me?” asked Klaus. “You turned on my positronic brain and saw what happened,” Pidge remembered that and looked down at the sentry’s face, with her head directly over its head.

It took a second for the sentry to power on, but once it did, it shot up and hit Pidge right in the face, knocking her over. Then it looked at all of them. “You dum-dums got any non-lethal, semi-combustible diversionary devices?”

“Que?” asked Lance.

Pidge struggled to her feet, holding onto the table as she tried. “I think he’s…” Once her face shot up, her eyes were bright stars. “Looking for firecrackers!”

“Oh-ho-ho yeah, it worked alright baby.” Klaus smiled.

And the crew saw how well it worked as they ran around the palace; blowing up food with actual military explosives, running away from guards, and eventually jousting on hover-dollies with them… though this resulted in Lance getting a minor concussion from hitting the sentry square in the face.

Later in the kitchen, Klaus had made popsicles for the Paladins and the Sentry made things as well. “So there are no hard feelings, I made you these.” They were tiny lanyards made of spy-droids.

Lance was still a bit bitter but, he accepted. “So worth it.”

Meanwhile, Lotor and Allura had made their way to a large vaulted area of the palace where they found Honerva surrounded by massive shelves filled with strange items. “What is this place?” asked Allura.

“Haggar’s lair,” Honerva remembered.

Allura was confused. “Why would you bring me here, Lotor?”

“Because our fathers studied the Voltron Crater for years before the war began,” Lotor explained. “I believe due to Alfor’s Altean alchemy, Voltron may have been able to enter the Energix field it granted them access to.”

“And after Raggah became Haggar when the war began, she stole all my alchemical research and perverted it for her own goals,” Honerva growled. “Still, there may be something in here that contains secrets that remained locked to her. And you, my princess, may be the key.”

Allura held her arms in apparent fear for a moment before she walked away. “I shouldn’t be here.”

Lotor quickly stopped her by grabbing her hand. “Allura, please. We cannot do this without you.”

Allura let out a small breath to calm her nerves. “All right. I’ll look.”

Lotor smiled. “Thank you.” With that, they all looked around. “Now, the question becomes… where shall we begin?” There were plenty of disturbing things in the lab, including one of Honerva’s own science logs from a hundred years ago. Honerva and Lotor gazed at it longingly in nostalgia, looking through the century-old notes.

Finally, Allura finished looking. “Well, that’s that. I’ve looked through everything here and I can’t find anything pertaining to Altean alchemy.”

Lotor pondered for a moment. “Perhaps we’re not using all the tools at our disposal.” he theorized. “Allura, close your eyes and just… let yourself _feel_ the energy around you; see if anything calls out to you.” Allura wasn’t sure that would work but figured she might as well. She eased her eyes shut and focused on everything around her… before something finally echoed off her mind nearby.

“There.” Quickly, she moved a small chest and found a strangely-shaped stone. “I was drawn to this.”

Lotor seemed surprised. “Wait a minute. I know I’ve seen something like this before.” Quickly, he pulled up a personal log and flipped through the entries. “Cmon-cmon, where is it? Aha, there you are!” He showed the display to the others. “These are ancient ruins from an Altean outpost now beneath the seas of planet Entuk. There I found a mosaic depicting Altean explorers following a map projected from something described as a ‘compass stone’. Supposedly, it leads to Oriande, the ancient home of all Altean alchemical secrets.”

“Oriande? M-My father’s AI once said I was a Chosen.” Allura remembered. “He said I was destined to find it, but I always thought it was a folk tale.”

“That’s what the rest of the universe believed about Voltron before you joined the Garrison.” Lotor reminded. “And my research has led me to believe it is just as real as the great Defender. And this stone may be our key to finding it. We have to find some way to get it working.”

Elsewhere, the Paladins were in a launch bay at the controls. “You sure about this?” Hunk asked.

This question was directed at the sentry, which had strapped itself into an atmospheric torpedo. “We’ve been over this already. Let’s light this candle. Whoo.”

“You guys think Lotor would mind if we fired a torpedo?” asked Hunk.

“I dunno.” Pidge shrugged.

“ _Come on. I’ve always wanted to see the stars._ ” the sentry called.

“And… now you will- Boop!” Lance slammed the launch button which sent the torpedo flying out of the castle straight into the stratosphere at maximum speeds.

“Later, pala-dudes. Whee.” Once the torpedo was in orbit, it exploded in a magnificent explosion. Especially since the Paladins had filled it with upper atmospheric fireworks.

“That’s the most awesome thing I’ve ever seen,” Pidge remarked in awe.

“That dude is my hero,” Lance said simply.

Hunk and Klaus couldn’t even bring themselves to say anything so they just saluted in honor along with the others, having serious flashbacks to Spock’s funeral at the end of _Wrath of Khan_.

Elsewhere in the Palace, Lotor and Allura were still trying to activate the compass stone by cracking it open when the palace shook from the torpedo firing. “Oh for the love of everything, what fresh hell was that?!” Lotor growled.

“Well, if I were to hazard a guess, I’d say that was the boys enjoying themselves.” Allura smiled before she let her face fall again. “Anyway, this thing won’t budge.”

“Just focus, your highness,” Honerva reassured. “I trust anything Alfor says with my life, and if he says you’re a Chosen, I trust that too. I know you have the power within you.”

Allura just thought for a moment. “What if I don’t? What if my father was wrong? He had a power practically no other Alteans possessed. You don’t have it, my mother didn’t have it, Coran _certainly_ doesn’t have it.” Allura sighed as a small tear came to her eye. “In truth, I may not have his abilities either.”

“But you must. There has to be a way to carry on the tradition of Altean alchemy.” Lotor said.

“That ‘tradition’ died with my father three months ago.” Allura whimpered, tears flowing down her chin. “I’ll never be the alchemist my father was.” The tear dropped from her chin straight onto the stone… which then started glowing bright blue before it showed a massive map of the galaxy.

“Incredible.” Honerva was understandably in awe. “You’ve done it, princess.”

Allura looked in awe at the center of the map. “Is that…?”

All that was shown in that region was a single entity that resembled a cliff-side city. “Undoubtedly,” said Lotor. “That’s Oriande.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now begins the Oriande Arc (63-?)


End file.
